The Undead
by Shikaku Zetsumei
Summary: [Old, Hiatus] Hatred is a powerful feeling. When someone is out for revenge against AVALANCHE, they are thrown into a race against time. Will they defeat Jenova before she has a chance to destroy the Planet? Yuffentine,CloTi,SephAer,NanakiXOC ChapterSIXup
1. Five Years On

Me: Hey. Yeah… about this story… um… this is one of my earlier stories. I feel that I could probably get more responses now that my writing's gone up a bit. A bit more descriptions (Tiramisu of Impending Doom) and other related themes. Now I shall rewrite and add to my original chapters. All the other ten chapters will vanish for the time being… 

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Me: Okie. Disclaimer… hmm… lessee… 

Cloud: Quit being a stupid moron and say the frikin' disclaimer.

Me: Don't bother me while I'm thinking! (shoots cloud…)

Tifa: Oh noo! Cloud! (heh, now I can continue my affair with Reeve, president of Shinra… yesss…)

Cloud: What! You're not leaving me are you! Noo! (starts crying)

Tifa: Oh I'm not going anywhere… (darn…)

Me: Anyway… I do not own most characters, I'll probably add a character here or there, but, disregarding that, all of the characters from the game are not mine. (also, the affair thing was just for humor. It is not in the story)

Disclaimer: Shikaku Zetsumei does not own anything that was originally in the game. He does, however, own everything else.

_**"The failures of the dead become the missions of the living…"**_

**Final Fantasy VII – The Undead**

Chapter 1 – Five Years On

(Year after Meteor incident)

The waves pounded against the high rocks. A figure was slammed into the rocks and dropped back into the water. It bobbed around grotesquely like a rag doll, struggling to stay afloat, to stay alive. An hour later, the figure dragged itself onto the beach. The person's clothes dripped as he squelched onto the sand. Only one thought came to this person's half-crazed mind.

"Damn you all!"

He set off to plan for something that would happen many years in the future. It would be perfect. He would finally get revenge on those who had defeated him. Such a humiliating defeat. But that would all change with the coming of the game…

………………………………………………………………………………………………

(Tifa's Final Heaven)

Loud music played as people staggered up to the bar for their fifth shot of martini and other such liquors. It interior of this room smelled strongly of alcohol, cigarettes, and unwashed bodies. But she ignored it all. She continued to serve the drinks.

"Hey, cutie." A particularly nasty man had come up for his seventh shot of vodka. (don't ask me how one can survive such alcohol abuse…) "Wanna have some fun with me?"

Tifa, already used to this from her other such customers, shook her head and said, seductively, "Maybe later."

"Come on, baby! Now's fine." He began to drag her across the bar.

"Cloud." Tifa said, snapping her fingers.

A blow came out of nowhere as the ex-SOLDIER stunned the drunkard. The last thing he saw was two glowing green eyes before he was hurled, quite viciously, from the pub.

"Thanks dear." Tifa said.

They weren't married, but Cloud stayed protectively near his childhood friend, acting as if he was just another man in for a drink. Cloud was still mourning for Aeris even though five years had past since the Meteor incident. As his best friend, Tifa respected his silence on the topic.

"Closing time!" Tifa shouted at the 'residents' of the bar. "Anyone who isn't out within ten minutes is thrown out."

That was a pretty generous time considering the people were so drunk they had trouble telling a circle from a square. Within a few minutes, the people were gone. Tifa locked the door and barred the windows. Even though this small bar was in Kalm, alcoholics came from the four corners of the world to try Tifa's Suicide Shot. Specially made for those who like it strong. The phone rang.

"Cloud, can you get that?" Tifa yelled from the shower.

Cloud picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

A whispered voice crackled in his ear.

"Is this… where Cloud Strife and Tifa Lockheart… live?" The voice said.

"Yes."

"Next week, Friday the thirteenth. Junon Operations Room." The caller whispered.

"What is this for…?" Cloud asked, puzzled.

"A reunion… of sorts…" the caller hung up.

"Who was it?" Tifa asked as she came out, towel around her shoulders.

"I dunno."

"What did they say?"

"Said there was a reunion at Junon on the thirteenth."

"That's weird."

"Maybe the others wanted us to meet again." Cloud pondered.

"That would be fun!" Tifa said. "I wonder how everyone is?"

"Let's pack. We can make the journey by next Friday on Storm." He was talking about the female gold chocobo he had bred during the Meteor incident to help him get the Knights of the Round Materia.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Barret cursed as he hammered his thumb instead of the nail. Five years had passed and he was still fixing up Corel. The townsfolk had forgiven him and he was busy helping restore it to its former glory. He was currently using his gun arm as a hammer and trying to continue on the previous day's work.

"Daddy? You done?" Marlene asked from below.

"Almost honey," the black man hammered in a couple more nails and climbed down.

"Did you miss me?"

"Yeah!" Marlene giggled happily as Barret tossed her up and caught her.

"Yo! Barret!" A man called from within the electric house. "Call!"

The town was small and didn't need much power. The electric house was all they needed to have sufficient power.

"Yo. This is Barret."

"I see."

"Who the hell is this?"

"Next week, Friday the thirteenth. Junon Operations Room. Come. It's a reuinion." Barret stared at the phone as the speaker hung up.

"Hey! You guys gonna be okay if I leave for a few weeks?"

"Sure Barret. You've done most of the work up until now. You deserve a break."

"Thanks Rigol. Come on Marlene. We're gonna visit Aunt Elmyra for a while."

"Yay!"

Half a week later, Barret and Marlene had traveled by boat to Midgar. Barret apologized again and again for having to leave little Marlene with Aeris's mother again.

"No, it's alright. We had lots of fun last time didn't we, Marlene?"

"Yeah!" The young girl giggled.

"Thanks."

Barret went back to Midgar's Airport to await the next ride to Junon.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Speaking of Midgar, it had gone through drastic changes throughout the previous five years. The sector seven plate had been fixed and all the pillars of the sectors had been modified to withstand tremendous force. All courtesy to the new president, President Reeve. The slums weren't so bad now and the Mako reactors had been shut down to be replaced by solar panels that actually collected more energy than the reactors.

Reeve sat contentedly in a huge armchair, Cait Sith, the cat, curled around his neck and Cait Sith, the robot, bouncing around the room. He sighed. Every time he looked at that cat, he was reminded of the incident five years previous.

"Well, Cait Sith," he said to the robot. "What am I gonna do today?"

"Why do you always ask me?"

"Because I have nobody else to talk to." He said.

The cat around his neck mewed. Cait Sith's robotic ears drooped.

"Except you two of course. All my advisors do is give me crap that I already know."

A burst of music erupted from the dancing robot as a signal that he had an incoming call. Cait Sith, the robot, hopped over.

"Answer it." Reeve said.

"President Reeve?" A voice hissed through the open moogle's mouth.

"Yes?"

"Next week, Friday the thirteenth. Junon Operations Room." The caller said.

"Who is this?"

"It does not matter. There will be a reunion. Come." The person hung up.

"That was weird."

"Want your fortune told on that?" The happy-go-lucky cat asked.

"Not now. I need to think."

"Can I come?"

"What?"

"You're going aren't you?"

"Why would I?" Reeve looked perplexed.

"It would look very bad upon the president to not go to some kind of meeting."

"True."

"Let's go then."

"We need someone to look over things when I'm gone."

"Godo? He has good political status."

"He's too busy."

"Reno?"

"They're off somewhere on a mission. I sometimes wonder why I don't have a vice president…"

"Probably cuz you won the election with one hundred percent of the votes."

"Right."

"How about Dorsin?"

"Him? Naw, I ask him of too many favors."

The ex-SOLDIER member had helped Reeve out many times past while Reeve was away. In truth, Reeve was embarrassed that the president of Shinra continued to ask a ex-SOLDIER member for help. He called him up anyway.

"Dorsin, can you help again?"

"Sure thing Mr. President." Dorsin said in a deep, but quiet voice, red eyes glowing slightly.

"You know what? You might as well be my vice president."

"But, I cannot. Nobody has voted me." The tall, dark-skinned man said.

"It'll be alright. You know the general schematics of things around here."

"Thank you, Mr. President."

With that, Reeve and Dorsin continued to plan out what they would do in case Reeve did not return within a few weeks.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Gotcha Vinnie!" The hyperactive ninja leapt from the balcony and landed on top of a very surprised Vincent.

"Right…" he mumbled.

"Oh, come one. Cheer up! Let's go have some fun at the ceremony."

"…"

"You know you want to…"

"Go away, I'm meditating."

"Go away, I'm meditating." Yuffie mimicked in his dark voice.

Before he knew what was happening, Vincent was being dragged toward the bonfire in front of the Pagoda. Five years had past and, after Vincent had found Lucrecia dead, he had come back to Wutai. He liked that place. It was peaceful and calm. Yuffie was ecstatic and had run around him in circles for ten minute before dragging him off to her house to throw a welcome party.

Later, she had passed her exam and become a true ninja. During those years, Vincent sat quietly, until Yuffie bugged him, conversing with Chaos. Eventually, they had worked out a sort of truce and Vincent could transform between the two fairly easily now. Though the demon still bugged the crap out of him and was sometimes a hindrance, it was a lot more comfortable knowing that he could now transform at will instead of randomly.

"Yuffie… let me go." Vincent said over the din.

"NO!" Yuffie screamed back cheerfully.

Vincent sighed.

"Par-ty!" Yuffie whooped as she dragged him off to dance in the crowded square.

The Leviathan Festival was held once a year. Vincent dreaded crowds. Too noisy and pushy. Nevertheless, he endured it to keep the cheerful ninja happy. The young men of the town set off fireworks that spiraled in blue and green sparks into the heavens. Yuffie cheered noisily with the rest of the crowd. Vincent winced. He felt something pushed into his claw and the digits forcibly closed around the item. He whirled, but there was nobody.

"Yuffie." He muttered.

"What!" She yelled.

Vincent sighed and dragged her off.

"What!" She asked again, this time more irritably.

"Look at this."

He held out the letter.

Yuffie Kisaragi and Vincent Valentine:

Next week, Friday the thirteenth. Junon Operations Room. Reunion.

"What is it?"

"I don't know. Someone put it in my hand during the fireworks."

"Weird."

"What should we do?"

"Sounds like a challenge," punching thin air.

"Everything sounds like a challenge to you, Yuffie." Vincent said.

She stuck out her tongue at him.

"Let's go anyway. I can go wherever I want now that I'm a ninja."

"Fine."

Within Vincent's mind, he poked Chaos awake.

'_What do you want?'_

'**Let's go.'**

_'Fine.'_

Vincent transformed into the huge demon. Yuffie returned from telling her father that they were going. He picked her up and they soared into the night.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Shera Highwind worked on the Tiny Bronco for over two years before it was fully functional. After her husband had crashed it, it had taken another three years to fix it up again since he couldn't help for the first year or so. (Too many broken bones…)

"There. It's finished again." Shera said.

"Yep." Cid said.

"I'll go make dinner." Shera walked off.

Cid looked at the disappearing figure of his wife. He sighed. Five years ago, after the Shinra and Sephiroth incident, he had proposed after he had gotten back. He had told her his feelings and gratitude. She was pretty surprised but said yes anyway.

"What -bleep- in' crap did you make this time."

"Oh, stop it. I know you like my food. You'd starve otherwise, too."

They finished dinner and lay on the wings on the newly fixed Tiny Bronco.

"Look at the stars, Cid. There's so many of them."

"Hmph." He grunted as he exhaled a puff of smoke.

"I love you Cid." Shera murmured as she snuggled closer.

Cid embraced her close to him. His face drew close to hers for the kiss. The phone inside blared a loud and very annoying jangle.

"-bleep-" He said as he dashed off to answer.

Shera giggled slightly as she watched her husband yelling into the phone.

"Who the -bleep- is it?"

"Cid and Shera Highwind?" The voice inquired.

"Yeah. What the -bleep- do you want?"

"Next week, Friday the thirteenth. Junon Operations Room. Come to the reunion." The caller said.

"Oi! Who the -bleep- do you think you are!" Cid yelled into the receiver.

The line went dead.

"Stupid jackass." Cid muttered. "Hey, Shera! Get the Highwind geared up. We're heading to Junon!"

"What?"

"Some -bleep- ing idiot wants to see us there."

Without knowing why, Cid packed his Venus Gospel as well. You never know. It could be needed.

"You want the pilots, too?" Shera asked as she packed her things.

"Yeah. Go get their lazy asses up. It's a long flight from here to there."

………………………………………………………………………………………………

The renegade Shinra soldiers ran silently in the dark of the night. These soldiers were those who were still loyal to the long dead Rufus. They were thoroughly convinced that they could somehow bring the old Shinra empire back to power. Cosmo Canyon seemed a right place for a hideout. The silent figures were, however, not unseen or unheard by two creatures looming from the rocks above. With a snarl, Nanaki leapt down several stories and pounced on a straggler. He died without a cry.

The other creature, too, had leapt. The silky black sheen of her coat reflected the moon as she took out several soldiers. As they realized that they were under attack, only five were left. They yelled and started to aim at the black creature. Nanaki erupted from their left as he ripped a soldier in two. Temporarily distracted, the other pounced on the one with a weapon. The two took care of the remaining three in due course. The bodies finally lay still in the dim moonlight.

"I think that's the rest of them, Moonlight." Nanaki said to his mate.

"Yes, they were certainly annoying were they not?" She purred.

"Let's go." Nanaki padded silently off with his mate.

They entered Cosmo Canyon.

"Nanaki, Moonlight," he said, bowing respectively. "How were things?"

"They shouldn't be bothering us anymore." Nanaki said.

"They won't be bothering us at all." Moonlight stated.

"Good job you two." The guard said as they walked off.

Five years. A fairly short time for Nanaki, Red XIII, to find his life's mate. She was a precious creature. Panther-like with a cold blue flame on her tail, Nanaki had fallen for her immediately. Now they walked side by side to visit Seto.

"It's been five years since I found out about this." Nanaki said.

"He must've been brave." Moonlight nuzzled him.

"I'm ashamed that I ever thought him as a coward."

"Don't be, at least you know now."

A scout gasped as he climbed the steep boulders that the two cat-like creatures had so easily managed.

"L-letter." He gasped. "Came by Morse."

"Thank you." Nanaki said, reading the note.

Nanaki and Moonlight:

Next week, Friday the thirteenth. Junon Operations Room. AVALANCHE reunion.

"Hmm." Moonlight huffed.

"We can discuss it later." Nanaki turned to the scout. "You can ride me if you are tired."

"Thanks." The tired scout said and clambered on.

In a short time, they made it to the main camp area.

"Thanks." The scout said and hurried off.

"Well?"

"We can make good time if we go to Cost del Sol right now."

"Fine with me."

"We'll be back in a couple weeks." Nanaki told the elders.

"Okay! Be careful."

They ran off down the mountains.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Elena, for the last time! NO HACKING! We almost got arrested once!"

"Okay! Geez, sorry! Just having a little fun!" Elena stuck her tongue out at Reno.

"Why does you definition of 'fun' include illegal viewing of property?" Rude sighed.

"Okay! OKAY! Geez!"

The Turks were doing their rounds, checking that none of the reactors were reactivating. Elena had _conveniently_ found a port in which her computer could access the entire mainframe. To make a long story short, she had somehow ended up in the president's private files. Plans of Cait Sith, letters from his mom, etc.

"Man, I'm bored." Reno said as he electrocuted a Dragon as it tried to attack the group.

"I hate Nibelheim." Rude muttered. "It's too dark and dreary here."

"I could play a movie." Elena suggested pulling out her laptop.

"No." Reno responded flatly.

"No fun…"

"We're good here. Let's move out."

Just then, Reno's PHS went off. From the ringing, it was an unknown number.

"Ready for some hacking, Elena?"

"Aye, aye, sir!" She promptly took out her laptop and hooked it to the phone.

Reno turned it on.

"Hello."

"Is this the Turks?" The voice was soft and had a strange hiss to it.

"Yes."

"Next week, Friday the thirteenth. Junon Operations Room. Reunion. President's orders."

"Ok."

"Oh, and one more thing."

Elena's computer seemed to bleed as a blood red dripped from the top of her screen to the bottom.

"Hey!" She screamed as the computer overheated at a tremendous rate and exploded. "Ow!" She cried in pain as shards embedded themselves in her hands and face.

Rude gave her an X-potion.

"Thanks."

Reno put away his phone.

"Whoever that was, knew what we were doing."

"Let's go." Rude said.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Junon was a peaceful port city. Separated into the rich and luxurious upper and militaristic lower sections, it was an extremely prosperous city. Numerous sounds could be heard. A child crying, drunkards yelling, people gossiping. The sky went dark overhead as a cloud covered the moon. Time seemed to stop just then. Not a single sound could be heard. Not a single movement detected. But there was something moving. A solitary figure pacing quickly through the town. The person stopped at each still person and quickly attached a device. He worked quickly and within several hours, the whole town was finished. The cloud drifted, unsuspectingly and lazily, away from the moon. The drowsy peace that had once been settled comfortingly over the city was now an eerie silence.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

(Friday the Thirteenth)

Cloud walked into the Junon Conference Room at noon on Friday the thirteenth. He noticed that he and Tifa weren't the only ones in the room.

"Vincent! Yuffie! Hey! What brings you here!"

Vincent let Yuffie do all the talking.

"Well, Mr. Dark and Moody said we should be here early. We've been sitting here for three hours now!" She threw a glare at Vincent who merely shrugged.

The door opened again and Nanaki and his mate padded in.

"Red!" Yuffie bounded over to rub his nose.

"You let her do that?" Moonlight sounded offended.

"It's no use if you try to tell her to stop."

"Hey! You got a mate! Good for you! What's your name?"

"Moonlight."

"That's a nice name." Yuffie patted her on the head.

"If you were not Nanaki's friend, I might have killed you."

Completely unperturbed, Yuffie said, "Wow. You should meet that man over there. His name is Vincent. He's just like you. Dark and gloomy."

Yuffie hugged Moonlight and bounded off.

"Like I said." Nanaki stated.

Later, Reeve and Cait Sith strolled in. Looking a bit surprised, he sat down and watched Cait Sith talking to Moonlight and Nanaki.

"Want your fortunes told?"

"Not now Cait."

"Aw…"

Barret bust into the room after about half an hour.

"Did I miss anything?" Then, noticing his friends said. "Hey! Wassup!"

Three hours later, the room was pretty full and most of the people had arrived. Cid and Shera came in about an hour ago. Cid had been pulled along by Shera to prevent him from killing the pilot who scratched the Highwind during landing.

"-bleep- in' pilots! They'll suffer Cid Highwind's wrath!"

The Turks strolled in, looking nonchalant and bored.

"What are you doing here?" Reeve asked.

"We got a call from some idiot." Reno replied smoothly.

"He melted my computer!" Elena complained.

"You came here to avenge a computer?" Vincent asked from the left-hand corner of the room.

"Y…" she began.

"No." Reno said, cutting her off.

"So we all got a call telling us to be here today." Cloud said. "But where is our host?"

As if in response, the screen in the back of the room flickered on. It was an old fashioned projection screen, meant for overseas video conferences.

"You have arrived."

From within the dark background, the shadow of someone, or something, stirred.

"Welcome warriors." The voice hissed.

"What have you brought us here for?" Vincent said from his corner.

"Please wait." The voice said. "The last two people are arriving."

Two hooded figures pushed two beds into the room. Both beds bore one figure. Cloud recognized both. One was petite, her brown hair coming down to her waist, and wore a pink dress and small red jacket. The other was tall and lean. Wispy silver hair lay around his still form. A seven-foot long sword was also carried into the room.

"Why the hell did you bring Aeris here!" Cloud yelled.

"Makes things more… interesting." The voice jeered.

A blue light engulfed both figures. Aeris coughed up water as her eyes fluttered open. Sephiroth, too, awoke. His eyes no longer burned with madness. With Jenova gone, he had returned to his silent self. Aeris leapt off the bed and embraced Cloud.

"Aeris…" Cloud said in shock.

"I told you I'd be back." She said.

A ways off, Tifa's eyes twinged with sadness.

'Well, as long as he's happy…' she thought to herself. 

"Something troubling you?" Moonlight purred as she sat next to Tifa.

"No, it's nothing." She said.

Sephiroth, happy that no one was trying to kill him, wandered to the right-hand corner of the room. Along with Vincent in the other corner, they looked like a pair of deadly statues.

"Now that everyone's here…" the voice hissed.

Everyone whirled to look at the screen. They had completely forgotten about the mysterious host.

"We can now begin the games."

"What -bleep- in' games are you talking about?" Cid asked.

"You have one objective. Survive." The voice said. "First game… get out."

A loud ticking filled the room.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Me: Well! How was that? Most of the plot will stay the same, but I also added in the quotes at the beginning and some extra information! Hope you enjoyed it! Chapter two will soon be up!


	2. The Legend of the Cetra

Me: It's disclaimer time!

Nanaki: So it would seem.

Me: Yay! It's Red! Here to give the disclaimer!

Nanaki: This sad hyper high school student does not get paid for these stories.

Me: YAH! Thanks! (rubs nose)

Nanaki: …don't do that

Me: anyway… in this chappy, the explanation of the title? Or maybe the next… let's find out…

**A/N: If you like this story, go read Exile! My story!**

"_**Those without souls can never truly die…"**_

**Final Fantasy VII – The Undead**

Chapter 2 – The Legend of the Cetra

"Your first objective… get out."

A loud ticking filled the room.

"Try under the table." The voice chortled and the screen went blank.

Reno rushed over and lifted the tablecloth.

"Shit. We got a time bomb here. We have five minutes."

"Want me to disarm it?" Elena ran over.

"Yeah. Get started on it. We'll take care of them."

He was pointing at the swarm of Junon soldiers that were trying to get in the room. Each had a small device attached to their head. These were presumably smaller bombs. Nanaki, reflexes quicker than others, had already killed a guard.

"Even if you kill the host, the bombs do not stop." He growled as he ran back.

More soldiers were flooding into the room. They were like mindless zombies, clawing at the air and moving constantly forward.

"Sir, we've got a problem." Elena said after a while.

Reno finished off a lieutenant and came over.

"What?"

"The main blast. It has ten security codes on it." She said. "Given an hour, I could get it done. But, I don't think I can do it in two minutes."

"Okay." Reno turned to the fighters and shouted. "We gotta bail!"

Moonlight ran over to the front of the fighters.

"Ice 3!" She roared.

A sheet of ice erupted from the floor and slammed into the ceiling, stopping the troops.

"Good idea." Nanaki growled.

Tifa followed suite by creating an ice slide that went to the ground floor. Inside, the guards and soldiers broke through the ice and ran into the deserted conference room. They stared dumbly around for their lost prey. They failed to notice both their own bombs and the main bomb counting down.

"3…"

"2…"

"1…"

The explosion shook the building as tons of rubble and bodies rained down on the group that had just landed.

"Mega All! Wall!" Cloud shouted as magical shields appeared around the team.

The debris bounced harmlessly off the barriers.

"Damn!" Cid shouted as the building itself started to crumble.

"Let's get out of here!" Aeris yelled over the noise.

"Where to?" Yuffie asked.

"I think Fort Condor is closest to here." Cloud said.

"No, that's not what I mean!" Yuffie pointed. "How do we get out of here!"

The entire Junon population had been attached with those bomb devices and was starting to crowd in on the small group that dropped in out of nowhere.

"-bleep!-" Cid shouted and started to punch in numbers on his PHS.

They continued to fight off the citizens as the looming form of the Highwind soared overhead. A rope ladder was dropped and one by one, the members of the group clambered on. Some citizens started climbing on to, but once everyone was aboard, they cut the ladder so that the people fell back down. The Highwind soared into the distance.

"Wait. Shouldn't those bombs have…" Elena began.

A bright flash erupted from the harbor they had left behind. The city didn't erupt into flames. It just sort of disintegrated. The only traces left was a large piece of scorched land and some rubble. Not a single trace remained of the once grand port city of Junon.

"Those poor people…" Tifa said as she put her hand to her mouth.

"It couldn't be helped." Cloud said as he put a hand on her shoulder.

"The Planet is crying." Aeris said.

"I can hear it too. I wish I couldn't." Sephiroth was staring pale faced at the place where the city used to be.

"Damn!" Barret yelled and pounded his fist at the wall.

The members of the 'game' flew off northeast. When night had fallen, they stopped to let the pilots have a rest and bunked in the rooms that had been built into the aircraft's interior. There were limited rooms so they had to share rooms. Cloud and Tifa, Vincent and Yuffie, Nanaki and Moonlight, Cid and Shera, Barret and Rude, Aeris and Sephiroth (because nobody would bunk with Sephiroth), Reeve and Reno, and Elena and Cait Sith. Currently, they were all sitting on deck, discussing the day's events.

"So we're all a part of this 'game now?" Reeve asked.

"Yes." Cloud answered.

"Why were we resurrected then?" Sephiroth asked.

"The caller claimed it would make things more interesting." Nanaki said next to Moonlight.

"Does anyone know who this guy is?" Shera asked.

There was a murmured, "no."

"Well, I think…" his PHS went off again.

"Hello?"

"Very good. You have passed the first game."

"YOU SICK BASTARD! WE DON'T WANT TO PLAY YOUR GOD-DAMNED GAME!" Cloud shouted into the voice piece.

"Too bad." The caller hung up.

Silence descended upon the members on the deck as they watched the still and slightly panting figure of Cloud Strife.

"It would appear that we have no choice." Moonlight said.

Eventually, everyone left to their rooms. Vincent, however stayed on deck, thinking. He sat against the wall and sighed.

Poke.

'_She's back…'_ Chaos muttered.

Poke. Poke.

"What?" Vincent turned.

"Go to sleep." Yuffie said. "You're not a vampire. You don't stay up all night."

"…"

Poke.

"Are you listening to me?"

"Go in, Yuffie. I'll be there in a while."

He heard her go. He sat for another fifteen minutes turning in. He drifted into a painful and fitful sleep.

_"Test one successful, sir. Galian Beast is not being rejected."_

Faint flickers of his past flashed and then died away.

_"__Test two successful, Hojo."_

_"__Good. Try Hellmasker."_

_The painful jab of a needle. Then, darkness._

_"Sir! The vampire DNA is being rejected."_

_"__Damn! Now he's as good as dead."_

_"__Watch it!"_

_A shattering sound. A needle pierced his skin. He felt the liquid drain into him. His body felt like it was on fire. White, searing pain enveloped his body._

_"__You idiot! That was the only one we had!"_

_A gunshot was the last thing he heard. That and the thud of a body hitting the floor._

_"Good morning Vincent. It seems that Chaos has neutralized the vampire DNA." The ugly face of Hojo peered at him._

_His eyes flickered._

_"__W-where am I?" He asked, voice weak from years without use._

_Something clanked at his side. He looked down. To his horror, a claw ending with five sharp digits hung in place of flesh. Vincent rushed to a mirror._

_"__WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME!" He roared turning._

_His eyes, once hazel, now blared a blood red. And his arm…_

_"__You were thrashing about during the tests." Hojo explained airily. "It was caught in some machinery."_

_Vincent leapt at him. He would kill this bastard, this spawn of hell. He felt a sharp pain in the back of his head._

_"__Got him, sir." He heard a voice say._

_"__Place him in there." Hojo gestured at the coffins._

_Vincent was thrown roughly into one of the musty compartments. The lid was shut, blocking out all light._

"Hey Vinnie! You alright!" Yuffie was shaking him.

"DAMN YOU, HOJO!" Vincent bolted upright.

Without noticing, he had also grabbed Yuffie by the throat. He sat there panting until he felt a faint pounding on his arm. He dropped Yuffie with startled look.

"Are you okay?"

Yuffie gasped for air.

"I think so."

"Sorry. I was having a nightmare."

"Didn't sound like an ordinary nightmare, the way you were screaming." She massaged her throat. "That really hurt."

"Forgive me. I wasn't thinking."

"Sure."

"Did I wake you during my nightmare?"

"Not really. It was when you started screaming that I woke, and that was about a minute ago. Let's go."

Vincent nodded silently as she left. When the door closed, he covered his eyes with a hand.

'**Vampire…?'**

_'Yes… I remember fighting that thing… it nearly won…'_

'Will I become one…?' He silently wondered.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

They continued to Fort Condor. During midmorning, they reached the base of the reactor. Reeve stayed aboard saying he needed to look at some files. The giant Condor, now fully grown, chirped happily as they approached.

"So, why are we here again?" Reno asked.

"To see if they need help. Also, if they're not doing anything, we can stay there for a while. It's a lot safer than the Highwind."

"I see…" Rude muttered seeing no actual point for being where they were.

The place was still inhabited. When Cloud asked if there had been any problems with the Condor, the old man said that all was well. The condor drove away most of the attackers. Once again, Cloud's PHS went off.

"What?" Cloud asked the caller.

He knew who it was since he had set a special ring for the mysterious caller.

"Good work. You figured out where the second game was held pretty quickly. The objective for this game is to protect the Condor."

"What the hell do you mean!" But the caller had already hung up.

The Condor gave a loud squawk from the top of the reactor. There was a loud rumbling.

"What's happening!" Yuffie cried as she grabbed Vincent to stop herself from falling.

"Something is approaching the reactor at great speed." Nanaki stated as he looked out of the window.

It appeared to be the Sephiroth clone that had been used to lure Cloud to the crater five years ago. A strange weapon was clasped in his hand. It appeared to be one of Ruby WEAPON's claws. It was a dull sheen of red with the sections taught. It was attatched to a hilt and the pommel was a strange eye color. In fact, it was apparently the eye if the great beast. But there was no time to wonder. The clone was rushing at high speed. They rushed outside to stop it form attacking the Condor.

"What are you doing here!" Sephiroth growled as he drew his masamune.

With speed unlike the previous clone, it attacked and the force of the blow shattered his Masamune and sent him crashing into the wall of the reactor. He staggered up, coughing as blood trickled from his mouth.

"Shit…" he muttered before collapsing.

"Sephiroth!" Aeris rushed over and began to heal him.

"You're the one who killed Tseng!" Elena screamed and fired rapidly at the clone.

Twirling the Claw-Blade like a windmill, the clone deflected the bullets. While it was distracted, Reno sneaked up behind the clone and zapped him with a full charge of the Night Stick. He turned and, since one hand was busy deflecting bullets, punched Reno. He slammed into Rude who was behind him and the both crashed into a pile of rubble. Both lay motionless under a heap of rubble. Rude struggled a bit, and healed himself and Reno.

Both Nanaki and Moonlight attempted to rip at the clone but they were both battered aside mercilessly. Barret fired as well only to meet the same result as Elena.

Tifa, looking concerned, asked, "Do you need any help?"

"I'm fine." Nanaki said and began healing Moonlight who had been slightly cut by the blade.

"Ya crazy psycho! Take that!" Yuffie yelled as she threw her Conformer.

The clone, slightly surprised, took the blow in its shoulder. Yuffie caught it again. The clone knocked everyone around him aside and leapt at Yuffie.

"Crap!" She shouted as the clone decided its new target.

'_I'm gonna die!'_ She thought frantically.

CLANG!

A blood-red cape brushed her face. She looked up to see Vincent in front of her. He had blocked the blade with his metal claw. Amazingly, the Claw-Blade only left a small scratch on the burnished metal. The clone growled dangerously. Looping his Death Penalty below his arm, he fired. Without hesitation, the clone dodged the shot and slashed at the Condor who was close by. The blade whipped out just like Ruby's claws. It severed the bird's head from its body as easily as a razor through rice paper. It gave one last chirrup before falling silent. Misted eyes staring towards the sea.

"-bleep- you!" Cid shouted and tried to attack the clone with a pipe he found since he had left his weapon on the airship.

The clone whirled and lashed out. The pipe was severed in two and a bloody gash appeared as Cid rolled down the mountain. He cried out in agony.

"Cid!" Shera rushed to his side.

"Cure 3." She muttered as she reached him.

Meanwhile, Yuffie's PHS rang and she picked it up.

"Yes?"

"Game two, failed. Game three, defeat the clone." The caller hung up once again.

Slash, parry, slash dodge. Cloud wasn't doing so well against the clone either. The sheer power was driving him back. The clone smacked Cloud's sword aside with a flick, disarming him. He raised his claw sword to attack. A gunshot shattered the air. Vincent's Death Penalty was out and it was smoking slightly.

"Finally, it stopped moving." He muttered.

"Yay! Go Vinnie!" Yuffie cheered, but it wasn't over.

The clone leapt up and snatched his sword. It redoubled its attacks causing a loud ring every time the claw struck Ultima Weapon. The clone raised the weapon once again.

"Shield!" Cloud yelled as a barrier appeared between him and the clone.

A loud crack could be heard as the Ruby claw-blade shattered the strong shield. Cloud was unharmed though.

"Omnislash…" he muttered leaping into a devastating series of attacks that did well over the Knights of the Round attack.

The clone fell in bloody chunks and pieces. Miraculously, the blade was unharmed. It was from Ruby WEAPON…

"Finally." Cloud gasped and looked at the carcass of the Condor.

Shera was helping Cid back up the mountain and Aeris finished healing Sephiroth. He looked at the long Claw-Blade. He picked it up and swung it a bit, a button on the side made the blade become whip-like.

"This actually fits better than the masamune. It's lighter too."

Aeris looked at the beautiful Condor.

"Poor thing…"

"Let's go."

They muttered apologies for not being able to stop the clone. The old man looked at the bird fondly, and then turned misted eyes back to the group.

"It's alright." The old man said sadly. "We understand."

The Highwind blasted into the air and the team continued on their wandering. Cloud's PHS rang.

"You failed one game and won the other. I will not destroy your ship. However…" the host said.

A rumble started again and the reactor exploded. White jets of fire rolling into the air. A wave of lifestream engulfed everything and it all sank back into the earth. Aeris gasped. Instead of green, this lifestream-like substance was blood red. It seeped and sloshed as the reactor was pulled under. Small cries could be heard from the people who were trapped inside.

"You son-of-a-bitch!" Cloud shouted at the host. "There were people in there!"

"I know." He hung up.

"Something's wrong! The Planet couldn't have done that!"

"That did not look like lifestream." Barret gulped.

Tifa put her hands to her mouth as the reactor disappeared. Cait Sith covered his eyes with his paws. Cid looked pale.

"What did then?"

Aeris was silent for a while.

"The Tainted One… What's that?"

"I think I might know," Reeve said. "All of this is based on the Cetra. Follow me."

They walked into the conference room of the Highwind. The room fell silent, waiting for Reeve to continue.

"Well, I was looking through some of Hojo's old experiments when I found a file that had a theory about them. Elena, will you pull up that file?"

"Sure." Elena took out her laptop and started to retrieve the file.

On the screen, a lady with black hair and hazel eyes rotated on the spot. She looked a lot like Aeris. Her hair was a delicate shade of brown and her eyes glowed a soft green. A small description below said,

X Month, X Day, X Year

Woman captured. She was the wise woman of the Cetra. Presumably the oldest and first of all Cetra. Is it possible that there are others? Before we could experiment to see how old she really was she took out a hidden dagger, killed two guards, and escaped. Seemingly, she disappeared into the blackness of the forests.

Hojo

"There are other such entries describing Hojo's efforts to discover where they were hiding. This lady is what Hojo said was the first Cetra. According to my own research combined with Hojo's theory that they had once been humans, I have created this theory."

"Wait, are you saying that Aeris is not human?" Cloud said.

"No, she's something more. Something special. She can speak with the Planet can't she?"

"Kind of." Aeris said.

"Well here's my theory. The Planet needed a way to tell Her new inhabitants how She felt and when She wasn't doing well. She chose this lady," he gestured at the screen, "to help Her. She gave this lady a kind of _half-immortality_. She couldn't die by mental forces or other such non-physical harms such as poison, dehydration, etc. But she could die from physical harm like gunshots or drowning. Also, they would not age after some time. Aeris, you should be noticing that soon. You'll stop aging and stay that way forever until you die by physical means."

Aeris gasped. Everyone looked shocked. Cloud especially. So she would continue living as most of them, Nanaki and Moonlight excluded, died. Aeris remembered how her own mother had been shot.

"Anyway, this lady was on her deathbed when the Planet made Her decision. The lady opened her eyes and her age vanished. She became young and beautiful again. She could also hear the Planet now. She begged the Planet to restore her husband who was also in such a condition. She said that if the Planet needed this type of people, then She'd need more in case of an accident or whatnot. So the Planet restored her husband so that they could reproduce. But, She placed a ban on the lady. The people who could speak to the planet could only have children with other such people. The lady argued that this was not right if there was only one origin, so the Planet created ten other children with the same abilities. Every some decades, the Planet would bestow some more people with the skill. She explained to all of them the seriousness of their duty."

"After several years, the lady and her husband had a nice family. They tended to have more females than males. All of them could speak to the Planet. At different levels of skill, but they could. During the course of one year, most of the humans were wiped out due to a small meteor crashing into the planet and causing the sky to be filled with debris. You might know this place. North Crater. This made it so that many people died from starvation. The Cetra, as they were now called, survived since they could not starve. Those others who survived eventually multiplied and the areas such as Kalm and Corel started to develop."

"The Cetra were killed in different ways. Accidents, accused crimes, self-inflicted, the list goes on. Eventually, the Cetra dwindled because they could not compete with the humans that were starting to populate the Planet. So what else could they do but gather and flee? During this journey, they passed many dangerous areas of the Planet. One was a place with Mako pools and lakes. It was a sort of injury inflicted upon the Planet by the humans. They knew that the humans were building Mako reactors that drained the Planet of Her blood, the lifestream."

"One lady, Jenova, accidentally fell into one of these pools. She screamed frantically for the help of the others but they refused. To them, it was a sin to touch the lifeblood of the Planet. They called her the tainted one. She eventually sank into the Mako and started to change. Centuries later, the scientists of Shinra would find her there, crystallized in Mako."

Reeve sighed after talking for so long. Then he turned to Aeris.

"Aeris, judging by your appearance, you are probably descended from the first of the Cetras. Sephiroth, you were probably descended from another family. You'll be happy to know that you are not related to Jenova in any way whatsoever even though you have her cells within you."

Sephiroth gave a mental sigh of relief. The room was entirely silent after a few seconds as what he had just said dawned upon all of them.

"Jenova's still alive!"

"I believe so."

"This can't be!" Sephiroth looked frantic. "I don't want to be under her control again!"

………………………………………………………………………………………………

_The Great Sephiroth had come to visit. The young girl smiled happily._

_'__So will Cloud…' she thought._

_The Shinra troops marched into the small town of Nibelheim, lead by Sephiroth. His silvery hair flowed like water behind him as piercing green eyes scanned the surroundings. The man with the huge sword strapped to his back spoke to Sephiroth. He appeared to be a second-in-command of sorts. The girl looked for him. He wasn't anywhere to be seen._

_'__Where is he?' She thought vaguely._

_The next morning, the troops marched out with the girl as the guide._

_"__Picture time!" Her father had said._

_Silently, the black-haired man and Sephiroth had stood for that picture._

_'__Where is he?' She still wondered._

_She lead them to the reactor. The bridge collapsed and all but two other Shinra soldiers survived. Sephiroth seemed nice as he asked her if she was alright. Afterwards, the remaining troops had returned to the inn. Sephiroth went to the Shinra mansion_

………………………………………………………………………………………………

_Sephiroth walked into the library. A voice was calling._

'_Sephiroth…'_

"_Who's there?" He called out._

'_It's Jenova. Your mothter.'_

"_Mother?"_

'_Come.'_

_A strange light had enveloped him and carried him off to Jenova. Without his knowing, a clone had been sent back in place of him._

"_Mother?" He had asked again._

'_Yes. It's me.'_

"_Where are you?"_

'_I'm captured at the moment. Soon to be released.'_

_A screen flickered on. Showing the scene in Nibelheim. The clone ruthlessly burnt down homes. Screams of the dying could be heard everywhere._

"_Let me go! I must save them!" Sephiroth yelled into the darkness._

'_Watch.'_

_The screen flashed to the inner reactor._

"_Why did you kill papa!" The guide girl cried._

_She picked up the masamune and tried to attack. Despite its weight, her rage allowed her to lift the long sword. The clone wrenched it out of her grasp and slashed. She flew back in a spray of blood._

"_NOOO!" Sephiroth screamed and pounded on the walls of his imprisonment._

_His friend Zack rushed in._

"_Sephiroth! What are you doing!"_

_The clone repeated his actions, attacking his best friend._

"_Leave him ALONE!" Sephiroth shouted. "Let me out of here!"_

_He banged on the screen as he continued to watch in horror. The clone broke the door and went in. He opened the chamber to reveal a woman crystallized in Mako._

"_You can't be my mother!"_

_But the only thing she said was, 'Yes, free me so that I may have my revenge.'_

_The other Shinra soldier rushed in with Zack's sword. Without hesitation, he slashed and the clone dropped Jenova. A cry sounded in Sephiroth's mind as the clone flew off._

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"_Do it!" The crazed woman screamed in his mind._

"_NO! I can't! She's defenseless!"_

"_She's one of them! Those who betrayed me!"_

"_I WON'T DO IT!"_

"_YOU WILL OBEY ME!"_

_Somewhere, Jenova touched one of the many orbs imbedded in her skin._

"_Manipulate." She whispered._

_Sephiroth leapt down from the ledge. Masamune held point down. The sickening crunch as bones broke under the sheer force._

"_NOOO! GET OUT OF MY BODY!" Sephiroth screamed as his exterior sneered and wrenched out the blade._

_The fragile girl gave a small cry of pain as the tip exited. She collapsed, a pool of blood quickly forming. Sephiroth screamed as Jenova forced him to fly away. The next time Strife met Sephiroth, it would be a clone. She didn't trust him anymore. She would set him in black ice to corrupt his mind until he wanted to become a god._

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"We won't let her." Aeris said comforting.

"I…I will never obey her again…" Sephiroth said shakily.

"So is that who this caller is?" Reno asked. "That creepy ass woman we were forced to drag to Midgar for that lunatic scientist!"

"It's a possibility." Nanaki said.

"N…No… It can't be… the voice doesn't sound… like Jenova." Sephiroth mumbled.

"Who else could it be?"

"If we finish this game, we might just find out."

"Furthermore, how did you acquire that weapon? I thought you used the Masamune." Reeve said.

"It was the clone's. I don't know how he managed to come to possess such a weapon from such a beast."

Everyone knew what he was talking about. Ruby WEAPON had possibly been stronger than any other WEAPON. With its whirlsand ability, it could destroy the strongest forces deployed against it, including Cloud's. The people who had fought it remembered with a shudder how it had been to be dragged under. How the sand had pressed in above them…

"I wonder." Cid said, pressing several buttons on the panel. "What is that -bleep- ing freak of nature doing now? I'm pretty -bleep- sure that it wouldn't just let someone take a claw."

The Highwind soared west. A faint red appeared on the horizon as they approached the desert.

"What the…"

Yuffie, whose stomach was already weak enough, threw up over the side of the outdoor deck. In the middle of the desert was Ruby WEAPON. Blood splattered the sands and the stink reached even the people in Gold Saucer. One of its claws was missing. It was a part of Sephiroth's sword. Its head was several hundred feet from the body and there were long gashes on the body. The head lay in a particularly large lake of blood, still bleeding from the loss of an eye.

"Whoever we're facing," Cloud grimaced. "They're stronger than anything we've ever faced."

………………………………………………………………………………………………

(Miles away)

"Yes, they've discovered my little message." The man breathed sharply, the waste air running through some tubes to a different machine.

Other tubes brought the body nutrients so that the user could keep constant surveillance on his prey. Various machinery beeped slightly as it adjusted to the body's needs.

"My dear, what should we do now?" He asked.

"Send them to the maze." A seductive voice said from a shadowy corner of the room.

A woman strolled out. She was tall and very beautiful. Silky robes hung from her shoulders. She also wore a strange assortment of sashes. There were five and each was looped around her neck at different angles. Each had a certain number of small, bright orbs, originally buried in her skin. Mastered materia. Magic, Independent, Command, Summon, and Support. Each unique orb sparkled as she wandered to the man.

He had most certainly changed. Just because he was hooked up to several machines, doesn't necessarily mean he's a disabled ugly man. No, he had become more handsome and all the more evil. His plots having both created the game and invited the players. He smirked.

"Very well. Let's see them get out of this one."

He pressed a button.

"I love how your twisted mind works, Hojo."

………………………………………………………………………………………………

HAHAHAHA! The plot thickens! Next chappy coming. Read and Review. AND GO READ EXILE!


	3. The Maze

Me: (Leaps into the spotlight.) Good evening, ladies and gentlemen…or good morning… good afternoon?

Nanaki: You are still hyper?

Me: YAH! SUGAR IS GOOD! (runs around the stage five hundred times)

Nanaki: (walks off…)

Me: Oh noo! Who's gonna do the disclaimer now!

Cait Sith: What's this stage doing in the middle of nowhere?

Me: YAY! You can give the disclaimer! (jumping up and down repeatedly…)

Cait Sith: Hyper here does not own any game characters. The only thing he owns is certain characters, weapons, and this story line. He does not make money off this fic.

Me: STORY! STORY! STORY!

Note: GO READ EXILE!

"**_How can we hope to complete the maze of everyday life when we cannot even begin the maze within our own hearts?"_**

**Final Fantasy VII – The Undead**

Chapter 3 – The Maze

Cloud lay on the bed. Silently thinking.

"What's wrong?" Tifa asked gently, though she knew the answer.

Cloud sighed.

"It's just," he started. "All these restrictions on the Cetra… It must be hard for Aeris…"

"It's alright." Tifa said comfortingly while putting an arm around his shoulder. "She's got her friends and Sephiroth."

"That bastard…"

"He already told us it wasn't his fault. Could you fight against Jenova when she was in your head?"

"Oh, so you're now on his side too!"

"No… it's just, everyone deserves a second chance…"

They sat like that for a while. Tifa wondered if Cloud would ever get over it.

"I'm sorry Tifa. I guess I wasn't thinking." Cloud said and hugged her.

He silently knew that he and Aeris would never be.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"That was quite a discovery." Sephiroth said, cleaning his blade.

"Yeah…"

Aeris thought about Cloud. She had seen his calm features shatter as Reeve spoke.

"I wonder how he did this." Sephiroth swung the sword around a couple of times.

Aeris sighed and lay down. She hoped Cloud was alright.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Yuffie lay on the outside deck, panting. The airship was suffering a bad bout of turbulence.

"Vinnie, give me another tranquilizer. I… urk!" She threw up again over the side of the ship.

Vinnie handed her another tranquilizer.

"Gah, I think that's all the food I've ever eaten…"

Suddenly, the ship jerked to a stop. Yuffie tumbled over the side of the ship, her world inverted as she was flipped off and over the railing. She screamed as she plummeted towards the white, snow-covered ground.

"Yuffie!" Vincent yelled after her.

Some force slowed her descent and she glided towards a strange white building. She floated, unconscious, towards the building. Through some unseen hatch, she disappeared. The ship jerked again.

Cid dashed out of his room and ran to the ship's controls.

"What the -bleep- ing hell is happening!"

"I-I don't know!" The pilot said. "The ship is being drawn towards that place!"

It was a sort of box. It appeared to be several hundred feet long and about the same width. It was about ten stories high and so pearly white that it almost glowed. The Highwind was set on the top of the strange building.

"Get us off this -bleep- ing thing!"

"I can't! It appears that the engine has stopped!"

Cid cursed under his breath as his PHS rang.

"What the -bleep- do you want!"

"To tell you your next objective."

"Who the -bleep- do you think we are! -Bleep- ing game pieces?"

"Yes."

Cid used all his willpower to restrain himself from throwing the PHS at the wall.

"One of your friends are in this place."

"WHAT!"

"Yes, you should find her and get out of the building before it explodes. Kindly retrieve all your teammates."

Cid sighed and called the rest of the people on board. All that knew Yuffie were in shock. Sephiroth, Reeve, and the Turks were merely pissed that the host of this cruel game would go so far. Aeris noticed that Cloud was avoiding her gaze.

"See this model?" The voice said.

A small white block appeared in the middle of the group.

"I suggest you stand back." The caller said.

An ant appeared on the box.

"If you stay on top of this building," a glass case covered the entire structure. "You will most likely be sent to the next planet with life."

The structure exploded, causing the ant to splat in a splatter that went even to the sides of the glass.

"That is the force of the blow." The glass cleared.

Another box was there. This time, it was clear and they could see an ant inside.

"If you are inside the building when you run out of time, you will probably not be seen even at the molecular level." The building exploded once again.

There was no splatter this time. When the smoke cleared, only charred remains of the building could be seen.

"Let's see that again in slow motion, up close."

The ant scurried frantically as the building exploded. White flames engulfed the ant. They could see everything the ant was composed of literally melt into ash and then the ash incinerate.

"You must rescue your friend and get out of the building before the time runs out. You have one hour starting from once you enter the building. Kindly step off the ship now."

The shocked group had no choice but to comply. Once they all stepped off the ship, it leapt into the air and soared to the ground.

"HEY!" Cid shouted.

"Ah, ah, ahh." The voice chuckled. "If you try to go that way, I will blow this building up. Then you'll all be dead. Oh, and I suggest you run fast."

They saw Vincent standing a ways off.

"Yuffie's in trouble!" Tifa shouted as they ran over to him.

"I'm aware of that. I was with her when she fell overboard and was carried to this place."

Cait Sith, last to come over, bounced onto the platform. The combined weight of all of them caused the platform to collapse and close with the team inside.

"Looks like we can't get out now. At least we'll die a clean death." Reno said sarcastically.

Vincent ran off.

"Wait up Valentine!" Elena said as they rushed after him.

"Vincent!" Aeris called out. "Slow… oof!"

Aeris fell as she ran into Vincent who had stopped.

"What's the problem?"

"Don't move forward. Step back a bit."

The floor, walls, and ceiling up ahead appeared to fuzz in and out of focus, a result of, when examined closely, thousands of tiny pinpricks per square millimeter. Vincent threw a bullet forward. Tiny, unseen lasers blasted the bullet so that there wasn't even a sprinkle of gunpowder. Each individual grain of powder had been disintegrated.

"This isn't good." Cloud muttered.

"Shield." Vincent said as he cast the spell and began to walk forward.

"Wait!" Tifa said.

"What?"

"Cast that on us too."

"I do not have enough MP."

"We have turbo ethers."

Thus, Vincent cast the spell on each person.

"Pray that this works." Nanaki muttered.

They walked through with the lasers ricocheting off the magical barrier. It looked like they were walking though a sea of blood.

"Yay! It worked!" Aeris said happily.

"Let's keep going." Cloud said.

Aeris noticed an unhappy note in his voice. They continued running for several minutes. They continued down and down. The corridors would occasionally turn and go down in the opposite direction. Other times, it would go up and then down as they rounded a corner. They reached a wide area with a pit full of steel spikes at the bottom

"What the hell!" Cloud said.

Small platforms stood in a small path to the other side. Nanaki growled and started to leap from platform to platform. He reached the other side in no time. Next was Moonlight, followed by Vincent.

"Hey! What about us!" Reeve shouted.

"Out of the way." Cloud muttered. "Quadra magic, Comet 2."

Flaming chunks of stone crashed into the pit, filling it up as the spell finished. The rest of the group hopped over the rocks and reached the other side.

After some more running, they reached a giant hall. Something stirred at the other end of the chamber.

"What the…"

"Proud Clod!"

"Gyah HA HAA!" Heidegger laughed.

Both Heidegger and Scarlet were in the machine, bound by some fiendish vines that pulsed with black ooze.

"The Mind Gel project! It was supposed to be destroyed!" Reeve gasped.

"What are they doing here!" Reno growled angrily.

"Watch out!" Rude tackled Reno as the right claw scraped against the ground where Reno had been standing.

"We don't have time to waste!" Nanaki growled and slashed at the machine.

"Knights of the Round!" Cait Sith said happily while hopping around.

The thirteen knights came out of nowhere and each slashed the mutated machine. It was still standing.

"Why is it still attacking!" Cloud yelled as he blocked bullets from the machine guns.

"Move aside." Sephiroth said. "Super Nova."

Ancient runes appeared in the sky outside of the building. A small speeding comet hit and incinerated several planets and soared directly towards the sun. As it hit, a ripple seemed to shudder through the molten surface and the sun began to expand. After about eight minutes, the flaming mass engulfed the machine and incinerated both flesh and metal, leaving bits of burnt rubble. A dragon materialized.

"We don't have time for this!" Reno growled as he electrocuted the dragon.

In place of the fallen, another appeared. Cloud leapt forward and dispatched it with a slash. There was another. It swiped at him.

"GAH!" Cloud fell back.

Tifa healed him as Sephiroth ran in. With the Claw-Blade, he severed its head and cut the next in half.

"You guys go! I'll take care of these until you're through!"

"Let's go!" Vincent was already running off.

Sephiroth continued to hack at the reappearing dragons as the team made their way through. Once they were through, he killed the dragon he was fighting and sped after them.

"We're near the end!" Tifa cried.

They ran through the white tunnels and corridors until they were on the ground level. There were no more slopes and they could see light coming from one of the paths. The only problem was the sign.

"Left or right? Left for girl. Right for exit."

"What! That -bleep- ing bastard!" Cid cursed. "He said we could do both!"

A cold chuckle filled the corridor.

"You would have if you had ran faster. But, you took too long going through the building. I never said you had to fight the machine or the dragons. I'll give you some helpful information."

A clock appeared under the sign. It read 12:26 and continued to count down. Then, under the word left, it read, 'Estimated time if any of you ran to get her, twenty minutes.' Under the word right it said, 'Time if you ran to exit, ten minutes.'

"Dammit!" Reno shouted as he realized what the host was doing. "One is possible with plenty of time left while the other is entirely impossible!"

Vincent wasn't listening.

"Get out." He said and dashed off in the left corridor.

"Vincent!" Nanaki roared and tried to follow.

A wall smashed down in front of him blocking the passage.

"Vincent!" Nanaki growled.

"Let's get out of here!" Reno shouted.

Seeing as there was no way to get through, they continued running down the right path.

"Hold on, Yuffie." Vincent muttered as he increased his pace to a dash.

Random creatures appeared to stop him. With a snarl, he slashed through them with his claw and continued through the corridors.

"There's the Highwind!" Elena yelled as they dashed up a snowy slope, away from the building.

The ship launched into the air as Cid wheeled it to face the building.

"You can't blast it! Vincent and Yuffie are still in there!" Shera said urgently.

"We have less than a minute. There's no choice!" He pressed a button.

The newly attached cannons on the wings of the Highwind exploded as four titanium shells propelled themselves towards the building. The smoke cleared and there was not a single scratch on the building. Cloud's PHS rang.

"What!"

"10…" the voice muttered.

"9…"

Vincent ran into the room where Yuffie was chained to the wall.

"What are you doing here! The place is gonna explode!" Yuffie yelled.

Vincent broke the chains as if they were twigs. He pulled her down and started to run.

'_Vincent! Time!'_ Chaos yelled.

"2…"

"1…"

"NO!" Cloud yelled as the bombs detonated and the building was sent into crumbling rubble.

"They were still in there!" Tifa sobbed into Cloud's shoulder, refusing to look at the ruins.

"Dammit, Valentine!" Rude punched the wall and a small trickle of blood dripped down the steel.

Everyone else just stood there, staring unbelievingly at what had happened.

"M-maybe they got out…" Aeris said hopefully.

"There is no way they could've." Sephiroth said, placing his hand on her shoulder.

"I shall notice you where the next game is in a couple days." The speaker said with nobody listening to him.

Out of desperation, they flew over the charred ruins but found not even a scrap of clothing.

"No…No one could've survived that. You saw the diagram…" Reeve said shakily.

They stared at the final resting place of Vincent and Yuffie for some time.

"Let's go…" Cid said.

The Highwind soared off into the distance, leaving the wreckage behind.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"It's all my fault." Sephiroth muttered sitting on the bed.

"No it isn't." Aeris scolded.

"If I hadn't cast that spell, we would've had time to get Yuffie out of there."

"No we wouldn't. One, that wall would've prevented us from coming back and two, you needed at least fifty minutes to get there and out again. That evil person made it so that it was impossible. I just wish…" she started to cry.

Sephiroth was slightly shocked at this reaction. She had always seemed so calm and happy.

"It's alright. Like you said. There was no way. The person wanted one or two people to die." He embraced her comfortingly.

"She was like a sister to me."

"I think everyone feels that way."

Sephiroth listened to her sobs die down to calm breathing. Poor girl had cried herself to sleep. He sighed and lay her on the bed. He picked up his blade.

"Who would do such a thing?" He asked the cold steel claw.

A glint of red caught his attention and he found himself staring at the eye of Ruby WEAPON. He tilted it closer to his own eye. The eye was blood red with a black core hinting of the pupil. The beast's eye was extremely intriguing. Whichever direction he looked at it, it always appeared to stare directly at him, as if accusing him of something. He looked at the surroundings through the eye. For a second the room was bathed in red. Then…

_The Crater. A figure standing there. Strikingly familiar. He approached the girl, Tifa. Everyone else was bound by a spell. Blood trickled from the girl's chest as the man cut deep into her sternum. A woman. Ah, yes. Jenova. The thought sickened Sephiroth. She smirked at the scene unfolding…_

_Jenova again. She could be seen at close range. She was still strikingly beautiful. Her embedded materia now hung on sashes. Four people stood before her this time. All male. But who they were…_

_He could see one of the males again this time. He stared coldly at Aeris. Almost as if it were déjà vu, he drove his sword straight through her heart. She gave a silent cry as she collapsed in a pool of blood. The man turned to look directly at Sephiroth. At first, he appeared to be shocked. As if he didn't expect to see Sephiroth there. Then he sneered and struck out._

With a cry, Sephiroth dropped the sword and fell back panting. He glanced back at the eye. It was glinting happily, almost in triumph.

'What the hell was that?' Sephiroth wondered.

He felt something trickle down his cheek and raised a hand to check. There was a small cut on his cheek, right where that man had lashed out.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Reeve sat in his room with Rude.

"What are you doing?" The man asked him.

"I'm trying to work on something."

"What?"

"Remember that lifestream that swallowed Fort Condor?"

"Yeah," Rude said.

"Well, I contacted one of the first of the Cetra."

"How?"

"Through a chat site."

The man stared at Reeve. Not believing a single word.

"See."

Reeve pulled up a small screen.

"I copied the conversation."

_R: Hello._

_J: Who are you?_

_R: I am Reeve the president of Shinra._

_J: What do you want from me?_

_R: Are you the first of the Cetra?_

_J: No, I am the son of one of the first._

_R: Can you prove it?_

_J: How?_

_R: Do you know about the tainted one?_

_J: Yes._

_R: Explain._

_J: She was my sister. Very pretty but slightly power-hungry. She fell into a pool of the Planet's blood. I couldn't save her. She was soon pulled under._

_R: I see._

_R: What do you know about the planet's blood?_

_J: Can I trust you?_

_R: Yes._

_J: Well, see, when the planet first started, her blood was blue. When even a drop of it is removed, the color changed from blue to green. That signified that the planet had been or was being drained of its blood. When it reached critical levels, it becomes red. I fear that is what is happening now._

_R: Hmm…_

_J: Do you need anything else Mr. President?_

_R: Yes._

_J: What?_

_R: What is your name?_

_J: I am Joseph, brother of Jenova._

_R: …_

_R: Thank you._

_J: Good bye._

"See, that's what's happening to the planet now." Reeve explained. "The Planet is being drained of its energy by someone or something."

"How can it be someone?"

"Remember Sephiroth? He drained some of its power before Cloud and the team defeated him."

"I see."

"That's the problem in general. I think whoever organized this game is responsible. I think we should talk to the remaining Cetra in person."

"That's a good idea."

"I'll go talk to Cid."

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Yuffie knew they were going to die. Soon, she would be floating in lifestream, peaceful as can be. At least her father wouldn't force her into an arranged marriage now… The last thing she remembered was a tremendous explosion and crumbling chunks of masonry around her. There was a heat so intense, and then everything fell to darkness. She groaned. Her eyes opened and at a sea of red.

"Strange." She thought. "I thought that lifestream was green…"

And it was cold.

"Cloud said when he was in lifestream, it was real warm and peaceful."

She sat up. The red disappeared as a person fell off her. She looked at her surroundings. Still the crumbled building. So, she wasn't dead. Then who had saved her? She looked at him.

"Ohmygosh!" She screamed. "Vinnie! Are you alright!"

Vincent was in bad condition. His cape was torn and his back cut in many places so that she could see bone. The flesh charred and still slightly bleeding. His breath came in short gasps. So he had saved her. She remembered that he had turned and covered her small frame with his as the building exploded. It seemed that the various experiments of Hojo had strengthened his body, acting as a double edged sword. Nevertheless, he was still unconscious.

"Don't you dare die on me Vinnie!" She rummaged in her pouch and found a small green orb.

"Cure 3." She muttered.

The wounds healed over but Vincent stayed unconscious. Yuffie checked herself over. A couple of scratches. Vincent had taken most of the damage.

"What am I gonna do now?" She moaned.

Yuffie attempted to lift Vincent up but gave up due to the weight of all the metal on him. She wandered off to find something to burn for a fire. It was getting dark and in the north continent, nighttime was a very cold time.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Vincent awoke with his back stiff and aching. It was also very cold with a small heat to his left. He sat up quietly. He could see Yuffie to his left huddled close to the fire. She had not noticed that he was awake. She was shivering as her clothing was inadequate to this climate. He walked nearer.

Yuffie sat shivering near the fire.

"I hope I make it through the night…" she thought.

Suddenly, she felt something warm drape across her shoulders and Vincent sat down. She clutched the tattered cape gratefully.

"T-thanks V-Vinnie…" she grinned at him.

"Yuffie, what are you doing? You're freezing." He drew her close, allowing his body heat to warm hers up. "Your lips are blue."

"R-really?" She shivered again.

"I probably didn't notice, it's so cold…" she thought.

Slowly, the color returned to her face and she stopped shivering. She stayed pressed to his chest, nonetheless.

"How long have you been up?" Vincent asked.

"Several hours, I guess."

"Go to sleep. It's been a long day."

"Thanks, Vinnie." She smiled and soon fell asleep.

Vincent kept his arm around her shoulder. She was still fairly cold.

'**What are we going to do. It appears that the rest of the group has thought us dead.'**

'_I don't know.'_ Chaos growled.

'**We should get to Icicle Inn. That's closer.'**

'_It's a start.'_

Vincent drifted off and fell asleep.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"So, you've killed the monster and the ninja?" The lady asked.

"Yes, and Strife and the rest of them seemed pretty determined to kill us now." Hojo replied.

"Cute."

"So what should they do now?"

"Nothing."

"Why?" Hojo asked.

"If they continue like this for a while, the sadness and depression will dull their senses. Then we hit them with something big."

She laughed as she created a small hologram of the planet exploding into lifeless chunks of rock.

"Hmm… that's a good idea. I can try out my climate machine."

"Yes, that's a good plan. See how they cope with that."

Hojo unhooked himself from the various machines and walked to a large machine. It had a large map of the Planet on it.

"Heat turns to cold as rain turns to shine." He muttered and started to type in various codes and commands.

The lady stood remembering her past. She came across a threat she had made once upon a time.

"Hojo."

"Hmm?"

"First, let's find where the Cetra are."

"Why?"

"There's someone I want to see."

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"_Everyone be careful." The leader had said._

_She and her brother walked slowly around large pools of lifestream._

"_Careful, sis." He muttered._

_Suddenly, a rock gave out beneath her foot. She screamed as she plunged into lifestream with a sickening splash._

"_Forget it Joseph! She's lost already!" Someone shouted._

_Hands grabbed him as he frantically tried to save his sister. He cried out for her._

"_Jenova! JENOVA!"_

"_Joseph! HELP!" She had screamed._

_The leader knocked Joseph unconscious and told them to move away. She cried bitter tears as they dragged her brother away. A strange force slowly dragged her under. She screamed as the green ooze enveloped her head and cut off her scream._

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Just you wait, Vainrok." Jenova muttered as she plotted the death of the leader.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Me: And that's the end of this chappy!

Cait Sith: Good for you.

Me: Here, I shall explain why I wrote in the part where Yuffie and Vincent survive. If I put it in the next chapter, you readers would probably complain and flame me for killing them off before I even submitted the next chapter.

Cait Sith: He's under a lot of stress peoples.

Me: Thank you. In the mean time, **READ AND REVIEW! I NEED REVIEWS TO SURVIVE!**


	4. Memories

Me: Who's gonna give the disclaimer this time!

Critic(probably CloudLov3r): Boo! You suck! Get off the stage!

Me: WHAT DID YOU SAY! (draws scythe) I DARE YOU TO SAY THAT AGAIN!

Critic: Whoa man… let's all be cool… I was just joking…

Me: DAMN RIGHT YOU BETTER BE JOKING! (slashes straight through a steel pillar with scythe) UNLESS YOU WANT TO DIE!

Audience: (stares and sweatdrops)

Sera: (tugs sleeve) I think you're scaring them…

Me: Oh… am I?

Sera: (nods)

Me: Oh… well… since you're here… give a disclaimer please!

Sera: Shikaku Zetsumei does not own any of the game characters, ideas, weapons, etc. He does, however, own everything else.

Me: Yay! Now, you readers… GO READ EXILE! IT'S A GOOD STORY FEATURING SERA HERE! (gestures wildly at Sera)

Sera: (looks disturbed) Erm… I think they would like to read the chapter now…

"**_You can always say you are fine, but you never truly forget…"_**

******Final Fantasy VII – The Undead**

Chapter 4 – Memories

Vincent awoke due to something hitting him on the side of his head.

"What the…?" He bolted upright.

Yuffie was thrashing about on the snow. Tears flowed unchecked down her flushed face.

"Yuffie! What's wrong!" Vincent grabbed her and held her still.

"No…Aeris! Sephiroth, why did you kill her! Wha? Get away! I won't do it! You hear me!" She struggled and continued to moan and mumble.

She was obviously hallucinating. Vincent checked her up and down. No markings of being bitten by anything. He lowered his human hand to her head. It was hot enough to make the snow on his hand melt into water.

"Dammit! Yuffie! How long did you stay in the cold!" Vincent growled.

He wrapped her in the cape and stood up. Fierce winds howled as Vincent started west. There was no chance of flying to Icicle Inn. Yuffie's struggling made it very dangerous to even attempt getting airborne. Yuffie continued to mumble incoherently. Vincent wondered vaguely what she was dreaming about. She had been captured around mid-morning and he had awoken around midnight.

'**Damn, she was out in the cold for over twelve hours.'**

'_It's not your fault…'_ Chaos provided little comfort.

Yuffie's fever was getting worse. She fell between consciousness and unconsciousness. During moments of unconsciousness, she cried in pain and anguish at whatever hallucinations she was having. These cries pierced Vincent's heart and made him walk faster. When she was conscious, she managed to struggle out of his arms and attempted to walk.

"Yuffie!" Vincent shouted.

"Hey, Vinnie. Let's go to Midgar now… Just wait… You'll get your revenge on that bastard, Hojo…" Yuffie panted, her face pink.

"Yuffie, we're in the northern continent!"

"Oh, is that so?" She stumbled a bit and collapsed into the snow.

Vincent scooped her up again and continued west and slightly north. Yuffie curled up in his arms and trembled.

"Hold on…"

"Vinnie…it hurts…"

"We're almost there."

Vincent picked up his pace as he started east. By nightfall, he could see the lights of Icicle Inn in the distance.

"Yuffie?"

She stirred slightly but continued her fitful sleep. Vincent felt her head again.

"Shit…" he withdrew his hand.

He ran the remaining one half mile to the town. He burst into the inn.

"I need a room…"

"I'm sorry, sir. We're all booked." The man looked shocked at the man that had just burst into the inn carrying a girl.

"Dammit!"

Vincent rushed out of the inn and went to Professor Gast's house. He laid her on the bed and covered her with the blanket. She shivered and instinctively grabbed the blanket. He shook her awake as gently as he could.

"What?" She muttered

"You need to get your wet clothes off. Your fever will get worse if you don't."

She fumbled a bit under the blankets and tossed the sodden clothes to Vincent.

" 'night Vinnie…"

"Rest now, Yuffie."

Vincent went to the selves and pulled off a book. He began to read as Yuffie mumbled and turned.

"Gast's logs…" Vincent opened the book to a page with a small fold at the top.

X Month, X Day, X Year

Today we had a new helper today. His name was Hojo. He's obsessively into gene splicing. He's a really nice guy. Or at least he was. He started doing random experiments. Since he had no test subject, he did them on himself. He's starting to do some scary things…

Gast

Vincent sighed. So this was when Hojo met Gast…

X Month, X Day, X Year

We have a new guard today. He's a member of the Turks. Vincent Valentine, if I remember correctly. Strange man. He's cheerful and seems to like my assistant Lucrecia. Then again, who doesn't? I think Hojo does too… I guess that's why he did it… He injected Valentine with one of his crazy experiments. Dreamweaver I think it's called. It takes the thoughts and dreams of people or objects around him and turns them into dreams or nightmares. Hojo sat next to Valentine all night. He seemed pretty spooked out when he awoke. I guess Hojo spent the whole night feeding evil thoughts into his mind. I hope they don't try to kill each other…

Gast

This came as a shock to Vincent. He had thought all his nightmares were based on his love for Lucrecia. So it was Hojo, again.

"That would explain why the nightmares stopped when Cloud opened my coffin…" Vincent thought.

He put the book away.

"Dreamweaver huh?"

Vincent sat gazing at Yuffie. Her face was tinged with pink as the fever continued. Slowly, he drifted off to sleep.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Cloud watched the landscape speed by. The Highwind seemed quiet without Yuffie's loud comments.

"Cloud, what are you doing?" Tifa walked over and rested a hand gently on his shoulder.

Cloud did not answer. They had spent the past day and a half soaring aimlessly over land and sea.

"We all miss Yuffie and Vincent." Tifa said.

"I know…"

Tifa let out a sigh.

"I wish they were still here." She sniffed a little.

"It's a terrible loss. I swear I'm gonna kill whoever planned this whole game."

Tifa lay back on the bed.

"I'm going to sleep." Tifa said, "I'm tired."

Cloud stared out the window once again.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Nanaki lay with Moonlight.

"Strange how you become so unnaturally attached to these people." Moonlight said mournfully. "I actually miss them."

"It was the same way when Aeris died."

"Hmm…"

"There's something wrong with the situation we're in."

"What is it?" Moonlight asked.

"I felt some presence within the building."

"?"

"It was strange, almost as if it was controlling the creatures and the wall that blocked me from following Vincent."

Nanaki stared at the wall blankly.

"I don't understand." Moonlight prompted.

"When we got out, the presence disappeared and then Cloud got the phone call."

"That does sound strange."

"Nonetheless, I hope we meet the host of this game soon. I will tear out his heart."

"Not if I get there first."

Nanaki chuckled. Moonlight was very competitive.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

A man stood before him. Only, it wasn't a man. A feather stuck behind each ear. His fingers were sharp steely talons. Looking the man up and down, he also noticed several feathers sticking out of his arms. His deer skin shirt was covered with runes and symbols. He wore deer skin moccasins that had holes at the tips where his claws poked out. Three in the front and one in the back. He gave the appearance of some tribal god. He was smiling at Vincent.

'**Who are you?'**

The man grinned at him, golden eyes gleaming.

'_Dreamweaver.'_

'**You! You're the one…'**

'_Yes.'_

'**Why don't you ever battle?'**

'_Isn't it obvious? I am that of a spiritual and mental guide.'_

'**You create my nightmares!'**

'_I am easily sidetracked.'_

'**Why?'**

'_The coffin you were sleeping in for nearly forty years was cursed.'_

'**Is that why I don't have them anymore?'**

'_Yes.'_

'**What are you doing here?'**

He grinned again.

'_To guide you.'_

The world around Vincent melted and reshaped itself.

'**This is my dreams?'**

'_In a sense.'_

'**What does that mean?'**

'_These are more informative than random figments created by that pitiful thing you call a brain.'_

'**Where are we?'**

'_We shall see…'_

The man chuckled again. The surroundings came into sharp focus. It appeared to be Wutai. But at different time. Men still carried swords with practiced ease and some buildings appeared to be burnt.

'**Excuse me, where is this?' **Vincent asked.

The person paid no attention to him. In fact, when he tried to stop the person, he passed right through him.

'_Vincent! You **are** an idiot.'_ Dreamweaver's voice chuckled. _'This **is** a memory…'_

'**But whose?'**

A strange force pushed him towards a small house next to a giant pagoda. A young girl ran out.

"I don't want to marry, old man! I want to become a ninja!" She appeared to be about seven as she stuck her tongue out at the man standing in the doorway.

"You have no choice!" The man bellowed.

Vincent identified him as a younger version of Godo.

'**That must mean that the girl is Yuffie…'**

'_Yay! Vincent figured something out!'_

'**Shut up, Dreamweaver.'**

The young Yuffie ran off in tears. Godo sighed, rubbing his temples.

"What am I going to do with you, Yuffie?"

Another lady came out. Vincent had never seen her before.

'**Who is she?'**

'_So many questions, Vinnie…'_

'**Don't call me that…'**

'_You let that brat…'_

'**Don't call her that…'**

Dreamweaver chuckled.

'**You're more annoying than Chaos.'**

'_Well, I am his cousin's, brother's, wife's, sister's, cousin's, aunt's, sister's…'_

'**Shut up.'**

'_**Fine**, be that way.'_

The lady walked off, presumably after Yuffie. Vincent was forced to follow.

"Yuffie, are you there?"

"What do you want," came the muffled reply.

Yuffie had her face pressed into arms as she sat near the coast.

"Please, try to understand."

"Understand what! He wants me to marry that brat!" She sobbed.

"It's for the good of Wutai." She said, sitting down. "We're in a war right now and if your father dies, who will continue as ruler? You need someone by your side if you are to rule as Lady Kisaragi."

"I know there's a war. Stop treating me like a kid!" Yuffie looked up. "I want to become a ninja so I can protect mother!"

'**So this is Yuffie mother.'**

'_Wow, Vincent. You seem to be getting smarter by the minute!'_

Vincent ignored him. A loud bell was ringing.

"Yuffie! We have to go!" Her mother seemed worried.

She scooped up her daughter and began to run back to Wutai. There was a whizzing noise. Yuffie's mother gasped.

"Mother!" Yuffie cried in shock as her mother stumbled a bit, arrow protruding from her stomach.

Persistently, she continued to run as flecks of blood splattering as she climbed into a hidden cave. Wutai was too far to run to. The opposing troops had almost reached its gates.

"Mother! Hold on!" Yuffie fumbled through her bags.

She dumped out the contents. A shuriken, a cloak and some small orbs. She picked up each or the orbs and looked intently at them. She moaned and threw them back in her bag.

"I don't have a Cure!"

"It's okay Yuffie." Her mom gasped. "My…my time is almost up anyway."

"Don't say that!" Yuffie cried, tears forming. "I'll go back to Wutai and get a Cure materia!"

"Yuffie…"

"Yes, mother?"

"Follow your dreams, wherever they may lead you…"

"Yes."

"May Leviathan take my soul…"

"No, mother, don't…" Yuffie sobbed.

"…"

"Mother!" Yuffie cried as she hugged her dead mother.

Inside, Vincent wept as well.

'**So this is why she steals materia. Because she couldn't get one in time to save her mother…'**

'_Yes, she's been keeping that secret from everyone in AVALANCHE. That's why she puts on the happy-go-lucky facade.'_

The surrounding began to melt again.

'_Looks like her dream's changing…'_

'**Wait! These are her dreams!'**

'_Did you think they were yours?'_

'**No, but…'**

The landscape changed.

'_Fevered dreams can go anywhere in time…'_

They were at the pagoda. Yuffie looked older now.

"Sorry, Miss Yuffie. Try harder next time."

Gorkii looked at her sadly. Yuffie walked off. Chekov came down next and stood next to him.

"You held back?"

"Yes, though she's doing pretty good for the age of twelve."

Yuffie entered her house

"Hey, old man."

"Yuffie, come here."

"Whatddya want, old man?"

"You should get married soon, I'm not going to live much longer…"

"Good! Then die! I don't care! I'm not getting married."

"Why you insolent little…"

Yuffie stuck her tongue out at him.

"Whatever, you will marry Rukazi soon."

"HIM!"

"Yes."

"I'M NOT GONNA MARRY THAT BRAT!"

"YOU HAVE NO CHOICE!"

"I'D RATHER DIE!"

"GO AHEAD!"

Yuffie ran out of the room. Vincent was forced to follow. He stopped as the scenery started to fade again.

'**Why do I have to watch these things?'**

'_Wanna blame someone? Blame that freak Hojo. He put me in you in the first place. I'm just doing my job. I can't do anything about it unless you wake up.'_

'**How do I wake up?'**

'_Your body will have to decide that.'_

They were now back at Godo's house. Yuffie was a few years older now. Probably about sixteen.

"This is Rukazi. He is your fiancé." Godo left the room

The man was indeed handsome. Vincent wondered vaguely why Yuffie seemed to dislike him so. He had bright golden eyes coupled with a cascade of silvery hair. He was dressed in the traditional gi and hakama. They were both made of fine material and appeared to be woven with golden string.

"Hello, Lady Kisaragi."

"BURN IN HELL!" She spat in his face.

"My, my, what a temper. I think I have a cure for that."

He leaned forward and tried to kiss her.

SLAP!

The bright red handprint glowed as he jerked back.

"Why you little bitch!" He leapt forward to punch her.

Almost ten years of ninja training caused her to duck and score a kick directly in his gut. Rukazi gasped and staggered back.

"Yuffie! What are you doing!" Godo roared as he reentered the room.

"I'M LEAVING!" She yelled as she punched Rukazi once more in the stomach and pushed her way past Godo.

Yuffie ran off into the distance. Later she would sneak onto a Shinra boat that was docked nearby for supplies. The scenery began to flash as if it was on fast forward.

_A man with yellow spiky hair, a strange wolf-like creature, and a girl with fighting gloves. They seemed to have good materia. They defeated her and she joined up with them, hoping to get more materia._

_A sealed coffin, a pale face. Red eyes flashed open as the 'vampire' had leapt out of his coffin. The scene slowed slightly at this but continued its relentless pace._

_The dreadful reunion with her father. More shouting. An ugly fat man, worse than Rukazi. At least Rukazi was decent… She watched as her friends fought the beast called Rapps. They managed to defeat it. Two suited men came and killed the fat man…_

_A man in black and silver armor. A giant sword sliced through a young girl's back. Yuffie was screaming._

"_AERIS!"_

During this particular scene, flashes of her past flew by. An arrow protruding from her mother's stomach. Her dying words…

_A giant red beast looming miles above her. The dreadful pull of the whirlsand… She had lain in the hospital for days on end, teetering between life and death._

_A giant Meteor in the sky, stopped by huge streams of green. A terrible screeching sound as the Meteor was destroyed. Cheering. Too bad they wouldn't let her have the materia…_

The surroundings slowed down. It wasn't too long ago. Only four years to be precise.

"VINNIE!" Yuffie jumped up and down as he walked closer.

"…" Vincent stared as she began to run in circles around him.

"Let's party!" She dragged him off as the real Vincent followed.

The talked vividly about her past year here.

"…and then that idiot Rukazi tried to come back again. I kicked his little ass halfway around the Planet! All I had to do was use All Creation and he was crying like a little baby." She laughed. "So Vinnie, what have you been doing?"

"Nothing."

"Yeah right! You can't do nothing unless you stood in one place for a whole year! And then… you still are doing something… unless you don't breathe… but then you're holding your breath…"

"I was looking for Lucrecia."

"Oh."

Vincent didn't notice it then, but he did now that he was looking back on the memory. A small wave of disappointment spread across her face. She managed to regain her happy composure.

"Well?"

"She's dead."

"I'm sorry Vinnie…"

"It's alright."

"Well, it's past midnight… I'm going to bed. You can sleep here. You don't mind cats do you?"

"I'll be fine."

The images blurred and then focused again. This time, she was rushing out of the pagoda.

"VINNIE!IDIDIT!IDIDIT!IDIDIT!IDIDIT!IDIDIT! I PASSED! I'M AN OFFICIAL NINJA NOW!" She jumped up and down repeatedly.

"…Congratulations."

"Let's go celebrate!"

"…"

Yuffie dragged Vincent off again as the real Vincent watched, remembering.

'_She's a hyper one…'_

The pictures blurred again, but stayed the same.

'**?'**

'_I dunno. It's not my doing. She must be doing something.'_

"Vinnie? What are you doing in my dreams! And who's that creepy falcon guy?"

"**I thought you said she couldn't see me…"**

"_Yeah. Hey girl! How'd you do that?"_

"First answer who you are!"

"_I am the spirit Dreamweaver."_

"**He's like Chaos."**

"Weird. How are you here Vinnie?"

"**It's his talent."**

"_You haven't answered my question."_ Dreamweaver said irritably.

"Oh, it's a ninja thing. I can see my dreams if I concentrate hard enough. It takes some time though."

"_Interesting."_

"So what happened? I don't remember much."

"**You have a fever."**

"Oh…"

"**You should rest for a couple days."**

"Okay."

"_Vincent."_

"…"

"_Hey, Vincent."_

"**What?"**

"_I think you're waking up."_

"**I see…"**

"_Well, see yuh, Vinnie…"_ Dreamweaver sniggered.

"**Whatever…"**

"Nice meeting you Mr. Dreamweaver."

"**You should keep resting."**

"Yes, sir." Yuffie said sarcastically.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

The PHS rang.

"Reeve speaking."

"Mr. President!" The deep voice of Dorsin said through the speaker. "There's a big problem!"

Reeve sat up.

"What is it?"

"Look outside. Do you notice anything different?"

It was snowing. Reeve was about to say no when something clicked. They were somewhere over Mideel right now! SNOW!

"What the…!"

"Aye sir. It's strange. Right now, we're getting over a foot of rain here! It never rains in Midgar!"

"It's strange indeed. I'll check it out. In the meantime, you take care of things. There's been a problem with where I am."

"I see. Are you in trouble?"

"Not immediately. Possibly later. I'll discuss this climate shift with Cloud."

"Okay."

Reeve hung up.

"Climate shift?" Rude muttered.

"Look for yourself!" Reeve pointed out the window.

"!"

Reeve ran out of the room and pounded on Cloud's door. He opened it and glared at him.

"Tifa's sleeping. What's the matter?"

"It's snowing in Mideel!"

"What!"

"It's strange! It's raining in Midgar, too."

"Hmm…"

"Cloud, what's the matter?" Tifa yawned sleepily.

"Something weird is happening to the weather."

Cloud's PHS rang.

"What did you do to the weather!"

"Game five. Stop the weather changer."

"What did you do!"

"Tell me. Do you know what an ice age is?"

"Yeah."

"Well, see the temperatures changed dramatically from what organisms were used to. It could be from warm to freezing or vise versa."

"So!"

"Do you know what happened to the organisms when that happened?"

"What?"

"They died."

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Me: Yess… who's gonna die… INNOCENT TOWNSPEOPLE!

Crowd: YOU'RE CRAZY! GET HIM!

Me: AHHHHH! (runs away) READ AND REVIEW! AND READ **EXILE**!


	5. A New Threat

Me: Well, hello again, readers. We have a special guest here tonight! From the creepy crypts… VINCENT VALENTINE!

Vincent: …

Me: Well?

Vincent: …

Me: Heelllloooo?

Vincent: What?

Me: HE TALKED! AHHH!

Vincent: This is a waste of my time.

Me: NOO! GIVE THE DISCLAIMER!

Vincent: Shikaku Zetsumei does not own any of the original game characters. He only owns the story line, specific weapons, and other characters.

Me: YAY!

Vincent: I'm leaving… (walks off)

Me: … um… Here's the story!…

"**_NO! WTF! It's too hot to be winter! It's freakin' eighty degrees out!"_**

(Seriously… this year… winter in Arizona is so screwed up…)

**Final Fantasy VII – The Undead**

Chapter 5 – A New Threat

"They died."

"YOU SICK BASTARD!"

"Heh, don't worry, I'll give you hints. The machine needs high seclusion to work." He hung up.

"Che!" Cloud threw the PHS onto the bed.

"We are closer to Midgar. If you'd be so kind as to drop me off there…"

"No can do, Mr. President." Reno said from behind them. "If you're going, we are too."

"I'm coming too." Barret said. "I gotta check on Marlene."

"Fine. Me 'n Shera will fly the Highwind." Cid said.

"There are several high places on the Planet." Cloud said.

"Right. There's the one we found Knights of the Round in." Tifa said, pointing at a point in the north. "That's also secluded."

"I can see three places we could go." Cloud said.

"Huh? I can see four or more."

"We can go to the island we found Knights of the Round on, the City of the Ancients, and that island with the cacti."

"What about the one with goblins?" Barret asked.

"They are smart creatures. They might stumble upon the machine and disassemble it."

"The island north of that?" He pointed.

"The elevation's too low."

"The crater?" He jabbed again.

"That place is completely low after the explosions." By that, Cloud meant after they had defeated Sephiroth.

"But why the City of the Ancients?"

"Geez, Barret. You ask a lot of questions. That place is pretty much devoid of life and it's pretty high up."

"Um, Cloud?" Aeris asked.

He twitched, as if shocked.

"Yes?" He said, avoiding her eyes.

"I don't think any of us wants to go to the City of the Ancients."

"We will draw then." He took out several straws. "The ones that have a blue end is the City of the Ancients. The red is the Cactar Island. The black is the Knights of the Round Island."

"I'll do it, since me and Cid aren't going anywhere." Shera took the straws.

She walked into her rooms and mixed them up. She came back out and they drew. Moonlight and Nanaki got black, Cloud and Tifa got red, and Aeris and Sephiroth got blue.

"Well, I guess we have no choice now do we?" Aeris asked sadly.

The next couple of days, they dropped Cloud and Tifa off at the Cactar Island, Reeve, Cait Sith, Reno, Rude, Elena, and Barret at Midgar, Aeris and Sephiroth at Bone Village, and Nanaki and Moonlight at the Knights of the Round Island. On the way, they saw various stages of chaos. The blizzards in Costa del Sol had caught all of its inhabitants off guard. They actually saw a person, lying dead on the beach, frozen stiff.

"This is horrible." Aeris had stated.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Aeris cautiously walked through the deserted city. Or, at least what they thought to be a deserted city.

"Ma'am?" Sephiroth asked. "What has happened to this place?"

She looked at him, slightly terrified of the Claw-Blade at his side.

"This is the City of the Cetra."

"I know that, but last time we were here, it was deserted."

"Yes, well, we came here after Sephiroth…" she stopped, realizing who he was.

"S…" she began.

"Please, stop." Aeris said.

"You! You're Ifalno's little girl!"

"Yes. Sephiroth is not here to harm anyone. We're merely here to see why the weather is changing." She explained.

"Ok…" she seemed wary.

"Do you know where any of my relatives are?" Aeris said suddenly.

"Yes, your cousin is in that house over there."

"Really!"

Aeris ran off, Sephiroth following.

"Joseph!" Aeris cried.

"Aeris!" Joseph seemed shocked.

"It's so good to see you again!"

"I…I thought you were killed by Seph…" his eyes widened as Sephiroth walked into the room.

Joseph thrust his cousin behind him, drawing a sword. It glowed a Mako green and pulsated with the magic of the Cetra.

"Stay back!"

Sephiroth had drawn his sword merely by instinct. This seemed to worsen the situation. Joseph leapt at him. The two blades rang in the vast city.

"Joseph! STOP!"

"You killed Aeris! I won't let you do it again!" Joseph yelled as he swung.

For Sephiroth, fighting Joseph was fairly easy as the man was obviously fueled by anger alone. He knocked Joseph's sword out of his hands with a flick of his wrist.

"Joseph! Stop!" Aeris repeated as she dragged him back, preventing him from leaping onto the point of the Claw-Blade.

"Aeris! Let go!"

"He's good now!"

Joseph stopped struggling.

"What?"

"He was being controlled by Jenova."

"He…was?" He thought about his sister that had apparently been killed by the Planet's blood.

"So, Joseph, have you seen a machine anywhere that could possibly change the weather?"

"…no."

"Do you have a room we could stay in?"

"Yeah, use the one across the street. And," he pointed at Sephiroth. "If you try to kill her, I will kill you."

"Understood."

Later that night, Aeris sat on the bed silently. Sephiroth entered the room after he finished his shower.

"Doesn't this place bring back memories?" She sighed.

"I do not wish to remember those."

"Me neither."

They sat in silence for some time.

"Did you ever want to… kill me?" Aeris asked hesitantly.

"No. I couldn't stop her from manipulating me."

"Thanks, Sephiroth." She hugged him gently.

Aeris lay back on the bed and was soon asleep. Sephiroth allowed himself a faint smile, glanced at the ruby red pommel of the Claw-Blade, and fell asleep.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Unbeknownst to Aeris and Sephiroth, Vincent and Yuffie were only a few miles away. (Yes, unbeknownst is a word… I feel so special… that's the longest word I've ever used I think…) Yuffie awoke. It was really hot and stuffy. She kicked off her blankets and realized she had no clothes on. With a squeak of dismay, she covered herself quickly. A quiet breath came from her right. She turned to find Vincent asleep in a chair, a book opened in his lap.

"Vinnie?"

He stirred slightly and opened his eyes.

"Oh, you're awake."

She stared at him for a while.

"Thanks for saving me, Vinnie."

"It…It was nothing." Vincent deadpanned.

"Could you give me my clothes?"

He stared at her blankly.

"Oh." He handed her dry clothes to her.

"Where are we?"

"Icicle Inn."

"Why is it so hot?"

"What?"

"Oh, sorry." Yuffie blushed realizing that Vincent could not feel temperatures. "It's really hot right now." She amended as she pulled on her clothes under the blanket.

"Is it? The last I was awake it was still snowing outside."

"Let's check."

Yuffie opened the door of professor Gast's house. She walked out into the streets and screamed. Vincent rushed out, Death Penalty drawn.

"L-look!" Yuffie pointed.

In the middle of the street, a man lay dead. The wrappings of clothing killing him through the heat. All the snow had melted to be replaced by parched ground. Yuffie whimpered slightly and fell back. Vincent caught her. She was still weak from the fever.

"What has happened here?" Vincent asked.

Chaos shifted nervously.

'_Something is wrong.' _ Chaos muttered.

'**State the obvious, why don't you?'**

He lightly shook her awake.

"What happened here?" She asked.

"I do not know. Let's find out if anyone's alive."

Yuffie and Vincent ran through the streets calling. Trying to find someone still alive.

"In here…" a tiny voice called from the inn.

"What happened these past few days?" Vincent asked the manager of the inn.

"I don't know… Everything suddenly became hot and the inhabitants of the town couldn't handle it. Not many people are still alive…"

"That's sick! Who would do such a thing!" Yuffie asked.

"The same person that wanted us dead." Vincent started walking out of the inn.

"Wait! You can't just leave me here!" The manager cried.

"Wear less and lighter clothing until the climate changes back." He said. "Tell that to everyone who is left."

"O-okay…"

"Vinnie, what are we going to do now?" Yuffie caught up with him.

"…"

"Vinnie?"

"Our teammates must presume us dead."

"I guess so…"

"That could prove useful."

"How so?"

"Well, I assume that the host thinks the same."

"Oh…" Yuffie said, catching on.

"Well, where do we go now?"

"I don't know."

"Do you think the climate has shifted everywhere?"

"It's a possibility."

"Let's go to Wutai. I want to check up on them."

"Okay."

With that, Vincent left to transform. Just in case anyone was looking. Yuffie stood on the parched earth, waiting.

"Hello, Yuffie dear…" a voice drifted from behind her.

"Who's there!" Yuffie whirled.

She saw a strange man standing not a few feet from her. Bright, golden eyes that shone with a Mako-induced light and silvery hair that fell to his shoulders. There was only one person she knew that looked like that.

"YOU!"

"Yes, Yuffie dear." He smirked.

"Stop calling me that, you bastard!"

"Yuffie? What's happening?" Vincent had reappeared, apparently changed back once he heard the noise.

"Well, well, well… This is your boyfriend I presume…"

Without giving her time to respond, he vanished and appeared behind her, drawing a deadly looking dagger near her throat.

"Well, if you'll excuse me. My fiancée and I need to be married."

"Godo would never approve of this, you brat!" Yuffie shouted.

"Ta-ta." He said, and then they were gone.

"Yuffie!"

He stared at the spot they had been. Nobody could move that fast. His brain was already racing. He rushed into Gast's house and pulled off several books. He flipped until he found something about a golden-eyed speed demon. It was a diary of one of the other scientists working on the Jenova project, near it's beginning.

X Month, X Day, X Year

This is the most horrible accident that has happened to us. A young assistant fell into a vat of Mako as we were performing tests on it to see how it would react to the alien creature we've discovered. The boy survived though. His hair had grown silver as a result of accelerated aging. His eyes had changed from brown to gold. He showed super-human abilities in both speed and reflexes. He is a demon. He has already killed everyone and I'm the only one left. If anyone finds this, this will probably be my last entry. He is coming. I can hear him. He is mocking me, walking as slow as possible. If anyone reads this, stop him! His name is…

And the writing was cut off after that. Vincent knew, however, who it was.

"Rukazi…"

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Nanaki ran as he had never ran before. He silently thanked Hojo for the speed enhancements. They would save his life, and Moonlight's.

"Almost there!" He growled.

She was draped on his back, warm blood oozing from a gash. He dove into the cave as a giant axe crashed down behind them. Now, you're probably wondering, how the hell did they get in this predicament?

"_What the…!" Nanaki growled as he dodged a pike thrust._

_Thirteen knights stood in front of them, looming. Moonlight rushed forward._

"_Moonlight! NO!"_

_She pounced and dodged as one of them swung. Another swung his longsword at her. Unfortunately, she was bounding away, leaving the knight with the pike in its path. A spray of blood. She was already away and clawing at several more knights. Nanaki had joined in by this point. Together, they brought down another knight. Two down eleven to go. She leapt, attacked, and pounced away as the axe came down. However, the King's blade was coming closer… no time to dodge!_

"_Moonlight!" Nanaki roared as she fell in a spray of blood._

_The king had only grazed her, but the wound was serious nonetheless. He swung for the final blow. Nanaki darted in, lifted her onto his back, and dashed towards the closest safe place he could think of. The materia cave. Comets plummeted towards the fleeing figure, trying to stop him. He dodged every flaming rock with ease. The axe knight was chasing them. Swinging that huge slab of metal. He dove and they crashed into the cave as the axe slammed into the earth behind them._

"What are they doing here?" Moonlight gasped.

"Quiet." Nanaki placed a paw on her side. "Full-cure."

She whimpered slightly in pain as the spell took effect.

"Call Cid. There is no machine here." She closed her eyes.

"Right."

Nanaki used a claw to tap a button for speed dial on the PHS. Reeve had designed it so the earpiece attached to his ear since he didn't have opposable thumbs to hold it. He hoped Cid would get here in time. The hole in which they found the Knight of the Round materia seemed to be flashing red. Something was very wrong.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Cid sat on the outside deck, smoking a cigarette.

"Damn brat and that damn vampire…" he exhaled.

Through the cloud of smoke, he thought he saw Chaos.

"!" He brushed the smoke away.

Nothing.

"Must be getting old. Mind playing tricks on me through smoke. Maybe I should quit…"

His PHS rang.

"Yeah?"

"Cid, you must get here as soon as possible. Something strange is going on."

"What's up, fuzzy?"

"…don't call me that…"

"What is it?"

"It appears that the knights from the materia have materialized."

Cid shook his head.

"Wha? Say that again?"

"The Knights of the Round are here."

"How!"

"I don't know how. Moonlight was nearly killed and it's obvious that there is no machine here."

"We're coming."

Cid hung up and dashed inside. The Highwind flew north.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Chaos flew towards Wutai.

"**Was that the Highwind?"** Vincent asked.

'_Possibly.'_

They continued to soar towards the small island.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Cloud and Tifa gasped as they walked into what had once been the Great Cactar Desert. The place was flooded and filled with cactar that had exploded through drowning.

"Oh my God…" Tifa stared at the carnage.

"We must find that machine and destroy it."

But the laws of nature states that someone must always survive… someone who could adapt to the climate… A loud rumbling shook the ground. A cactar approached.

"That's strange. It looks almost normal from here."

The cactar came closer, growing as it came into sharper focus. It loomed a hundred feet into the air, the last survivor.

"Oh, gods…" Cloud drew Ultima Weapon.

"Mega All! Barrier!" Shields sprung up around them.

"Watch out!" Tifa screamed as the cactar prepared to attack.

Thousands of foot long needles shot towards the barriers. Loud pinging sounds could be heard as the shields blocked the shots. As both their shields ran out, a stray needle flew directly at Tifa. Cloud saw this as if through slow motion. The needled shattered the barrier, passed through Tifa, and she fell in a spray of blood.

"Tifa…" he gasped.

The past flew by as he witnessed this.

"_Whenever I'm in trouble, my hero will come and rescue me."_

_A young girl and a promise made._

"_You have no heart, you're just a puppet."_

_The cold slice of steel against flesh._

"_I'm sorry, Cloud."_

_Green eyes closing for the last time._

"_Give me the black materia…"_

_A cold orb, emanating power. _

"_You have failed. Good job, Strife."_

Words and memories washed over him as he watched Tifa fall to the ground.

"No…NOT AGAIN!" He screamed as a cold black light washed over his fist.

He was suddenly clutching the black materia that had apparently been destroyed by Sephiroth five years ago.

"WEAPON summon. Emerald WEAPON…" he flicked the barrier out of his Ultima Weapon and slotted the black materia in.

The weapon gave a loud sizzling appeared and strange veins of black crept up the blade. Black lightning flared up from the hilt as the shape of Emerald WEAPON materialized. It gave a loud roar and used its Air Tam Storm attack on the giant cactar. Water compressed into giant torrents blasted onto the giant cactar. It made a small gurgling noise before exploding into watery chunks. With it destroyed, Emerald WEAPON vanished. Ultima Weapon still had strange veins in it and the black materia seemed welded into the sword.

"Tifa!" Cloud rushed over.

"Sorry, Cloud…" she coughed slightly, blood trickling from her mouth.

"No! Hold on!"

He took out a green orb. It was a low-leveled cure.

"Cure." Cloud muttered.

Only a small part of the wound healed.

"Stay awake, Tifa."

"I…I can't…"

"Cure."

"It hurts…" she coughed again, blood splattering the sand.

"Hang on…"

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Aeris awoke to the sounds of screams. She leapt out of bed and ran to the window. Outside was a massacre. Many people lay dead in the street. Though only a few were dead, whatever sick twisted mind had done it had caused it's owner to drench the streets in the fallen ones' blood.

"What's wrong?" Sephiroth came through from the next room.

"L-Look!" Aeris blanched.

Joseph burst into the room.

"Aeris…" he looked pale. "It's…Jenova…"

"WHAT!" Sephiroth rushed out of the room, pausing briefly to grab the Claw-Blade.

"Oh, no…" Aeris said and rushed after him.

A man struggled as he was caught in Jenova's cold fingers. She squeezed.

"Where is Vainrok?"

"Go &#$ yourself…"

With a grim squeeze, she detached his head from his body. The blood sprayed wildly. The family of the man screamed and began to run. Jenova flicked her wrist in a throwing movement and four steel spears stabbed through their bodies. Then she waved her wrist and the spears came out of the ground, lifting the bodies like shish-kabobs. Metal plates appeared out of nowhere and crushed the bodies, causing blood to splatter everywhere. Jenova seemed more intent on traumatizing the Cetra rather than killing them.

"JENOVA!" Sephiroth swung the blade, severing an arm.

"Ah, dear Sephiroth." She smirked.

Sephiroth watched in horror as she touched one of the orbs on a sash and her arm reattach itself.

"If you'll excuse me, I have some important business to take care of."

She touched another of the orbs.

"Shadow Summon. Knights of the Round."

Aeris gasped as she saw the familiar knights appear. They weren't normal either. Each was clad in black armor and the only visible thing was pearly white eyes. Sephiroth's blood splattered the grounds as each attacked.

"Heh…" She sneered at him and walked off.

"Damn you…" he collapsed, unconscious.

His sword arm was hanging by a mere thread and was bleeding from numerous wounds. His breath came in short gasps as the pain made him black out.

"Sephiroth!" Aeris rushed over.

She cast a healing spell on him as she watched Jenova walk into the distance.

"All mastered materia…" she muttered. "Terrible…"

A man rushed into the streets.

"Stop this at once! Leave this place!"

"Vainrok, I presume?"

"What do you want!"

"Your life…"

She rushed forward. Vainrok had one glimpse of a crazed soul behind blazing eyes before his body was split in two.

"Jenova!" Joseph ran out into the streets. "Please, stop!"

A flash of recognition crossed her face.

"Joseph… My dear brother…" She said, trying to act indifferent.

"Stop this Jenova. There's nothing here that you want."

"I suppose. I'll see you soon." She vanished with a touch of another materia.

Joseph stared at the massacre in horror. No, she wasn't the same sister he had know a century ago… she wasn't even human anymore. He shuddered, remembering those crazed eyes, and turned to help Aeris heal Sephiroth.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"As you can see, Mr. President, the water reservoirs are at the limit. We can't take much more."

"I see." Reeve looked pensive, staring out his window.

"I think we should all pray and hope we go to heaven!"

"Cait Sith, be quiet."

Cait Sith's ears drooped and a sad funeral music played from the moogle's mouth.

"Stop that. I'm busy. Go bug Reno or something." Reeve made a shooing motion with his hand.

"Okay!" Cait Sith said happily and bounded off.

"Has anything strange happened lately? Anything before the climate change?"

"No… well, there was a strange light yesterday. It's still there." Dorsin pointed to the top of Shinra tower.

"Hmm… Did anyone investigate this yet?"

"Everyone who tried has died. There's a rumor going around that there is a monster nesting up there…" (A/N: FFVIII anyone?)

"We should go there as soon as possible. Cait Sith!"

"Yah?" The cat popped back into the room, caught eavesdropping.

"Tell the Turks to investigate that light when they can."

"Aye, aye, captain!" He bounced away.

"Thanks for taking care of everything, Dorsin."

"No problem."

Reeve watched as rain pelted the windows.

"Any immediate damage from the rain?" He asked.

"No, but it is a possibility of mold damage in buildings."

"I see."

"Well, Mr. President, I suppose you're tired from your journey. I've taken the liberty to clean up your room and feed Cait Sith.

"Thanks."

Reeve wandered up to his room. He opened the door and stepped inside. Cait Sith mewed and rubbed against his leg. He picked her up.

"What are we going to do?" He asked.

She mewed again and licked his cheek. He laughed.

"Worry about it later, eh?"

With one last look at the strange pulsing light atop the tower, Reeve went to sleep. He was too tired to ponder about it… maybe in the morning…

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Me: Tada! Fifth chappy done! When you review, put a guess as to where the machine is!

Crowd: AND NOW, TIME FOR CHARACTER-AUTHOR COMPLAINTS!

Me: Wait, wha?

Cloud comes onto the stage.

Cloud: Um… I don't like you. You made me look like an idiot! (cuts me on arm with blade)

Me: OW! I gave you black materia! WTF are you talking about! (you are an idiot anyway… heh heh heh…)

Tifa: You made me die! (punches me)

Me: GAH! You'll live! I swear!

Sephiroth: You made Jenova come back! (slashes…)

Me: AAAAHHHHH! F-Full cure!

Crowd: GOOD! TIME FOR MORE!

Me: WHAT!

Yuffie: You made me get captured and almost killed! (slash)

Me: OW! (sniff) Anyone else?

Nanaki: Um… I don't like you. (bite)

Me: Owie…

Vincent: You make me talk too much. (shoots in leg)

Me: GAAAHH! This is hell!

Ruby WEAPON: ROAR!

Me: O.O;;;;; eep… (runs away)

Crowd: READ AND REVIEW!


	6. The Climate Machine

Me: Hello!

Crowd: GET TO WORK! (throws random sharp pointy objects)

Me: HEY! OW! I just said hi…

Crowd: WELL, GET ON WITH THE STORY!

Me: Well, I can't really do that without a disclaimer… I'll get sued… That would not be fun…

Crowd: THIS AUTHOR DOES NOT OWN ANY CHARACTERS THAT WERE IN THE GAME! HE ALSO OWNS THE STORY LINE AND OTHER VARIOUS WEAPONS INVENTED TO SUIT THIS FIC'S NEEDS! THERE! NOW WRITE!

Me: scary how they say all that at the same time…

"_**Déjà vu is generally not a good sign… I mean, I feel I see déjà vu all the time and look where it's gotten me…"**_

**Final Fantasy VII – The Undead**

Chapter 6 – The Climate Machine

Chaos landed near the small town two days later. He growled softly. It was raining. Strange torrents of rain drowned the small village. Vincent. It generally rains in Wutai. So why was the climate here so strange? He looked at the pagoda. A strange shadow surrounded the top. He put it in the back of his mind for future consideration.

"Hold on, Yuffie."

He walked towards the small village. It was strangely quiet, save for the patter of rain. Usually, one would see small children playing in the streets and businesses running, but the streets were quite literally flooded so he didn't expect many people to be out.

'**Where are they?'** Vincent mused.

'_Keep your guard up.'_ No surprises there.

He had been trained for stealth and tracking. He walked towards Godo's house.

"Yuffie?" He called out cautiously.

The door swung open. Yuffie stepped out and looked at him.

"Please, Vincent. You must understand. I love Rukazi."

"Yuffie, what are you saying? Are…"

"Please, Vincent."

"Yuffie, I don't…"

"Just go, okay! I love him now. You must leave."

She walked back inside, leaving Vincent standing alone. He turned to leave.

'_Where do you think you're going?'_

'**Dreamweaver!'**

'_Ha ha… yeah it's me. History is repeating itself. What a coincidence.'_ He laughed again.

'**What are you talking about?'**

'_Watch.'_

The surroundings blurred and he was staring at himself and Lucrecia.

"_Please, Vincent. You must understand. This could be a major breakthrough."_

"_Lucrecia, you are putting your life up for this. I do not think it is wise."_

"_Please, Vincent."_

"_Lucrecia, I…"_

"_Just go, okay! You are interfering with science. I must ask you to leave."_

_Vincent stiffened._

"_Yes, Miss Lament." He said abruptly and walked off."_

_She realized that it was the first time in many years that he had used that name. She sniffed a little and walked back into the lab._

The surroundings blurred again. He was back at Godo's house.

'You messed your life up once. What was the consequence? Thirty some -bleep- ing years in that rotten coffin. You want to do that again?' 

'**You're right.'** Vincent agreed. **'Something is not right here.'**

He dashed around to the back, slowly opened the door, and crept inside. He could hear voices coming from inside. Someone was sobbing.

"Now, now, Yuffie dear. That wasn't that bad was it?"

"Godo! Stop him!"

"I'm sorry, Yuffie. Godo won't listen to you until I let him."

"You creep! If Vinnie was here, he'd tear you to pieces."

"The thing is, he's not here is he?"

More sobbing.

"Now, about this wedding… I think we can safely say that we'll have no more interferences?"

"I refuse to marry you, you bastard!"

"That's no way to speak to your husband. Looks like you need some disciplining."

A loud smack was heard, followed by a crash as someone fell to the floor. Vincent growled, enough was enough. Vincent smashed the door aside as he strolled into the room.

"You! I thought you were gone!" Rukazi glared at him, eyes full of hate.

"V-Vinnie!" Yuffie hiccuped, tears still streaming down her face.

One side of her face was bright red from the blow Rukazi had just given her. Godo stood in a corner, indifferent to both his crying daughter and the Gothic man that had just burst in. Vincent aimed his gun at Rukazi and fired… only to hit the tatami flooring. Rukazi was behind him and striking out with his fist. Vincent winced slightly and whirled to slash at air. Rukazi was everywhere, hitting and dodging.

"Vinnie…" Yuffie gasped, helpless.

'_Would you like my help?'_

'**I thought you said you didn't fight.'**

'_I cannot harm his body…'_

'**But?'**

'_But his mind and soul are free for the taking.'_

'**Let's go.'**

Suddenly, both fighters stopped. A haze erupted from Vincent's body and formed into the shape of an eagle. Then it soared at Rukazi and the world began to change. The room melted away and they were soon swept to a different dimension.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Tifa awoke abruptly. She winced slightly from the dull pain in her stomach. She felt the place where the needle had gone through. It was bandaged up and slightly bleeding. It had hurt badly. The needled pierced her inner organs and shattered her spine. Next to her, Cloud slept, regaining MP so that he could continue healing her.

"Cloud…" she laid her head on his shoulder.

Her stomach was starting to hurt again.

"Hmm…? What?" His eyes flickered open. "Oh." He muttered and started to cast another spell.

The pain eased up a bit as it took effect. He had used it quite a bit and he could cast Cure 2 now.

"Thanks."

"No problem."

"What happened to your sword?"

"I don't know. The black materia doesn't seem to want to come out."

"How'd you get it?" She winced as she accidentally shifted a bit.

"Cure 2."

Tifa breathed slowly until the pain subsided.

"I don't know." Cloud said. "It just sort of appeared."

He didn't tell her that it was because he wanted to save her. The burning anguish of losing a loved one. Somehow, it had fed of this desire to protect.

"Why didn't you call Cid?"

"The rains shortened it out. Phone's dead."

"Oh, okay. I'm going to sleep." Tifa yawned.

"Okay."

Cloud stared at his blade. The black veins pulsed slightly, but the sword remained peaceful and he sensed no danger in the veins. They just looked creepy. Cloud tapped the black orb slightly and a swirl of color flashed and disappeared. He could see blue, red, green, silver and black. Cloud guessed that they were the WEAPONs residing within the orb. Cloud tried to pry the orb out again and, once again, received quite the nasty shock. He gave up and continued to sleep.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

The Highwind soared over the thirteen knights. They continued to attempt to bring down the great flying craft hovering just out of sword range.

"Damn! I thought fuzzy said they killed two of them!" The Highwind dodged another swarm of comets.

"Take that!" Cid fired the main cannons.

The titanium shells ripped through six or seven of them, killing them instantly. Cid let fly another volley as his crew loaded new shells. Several more fell. Cid maneuvered the Highwind over the mouth of the cave and lowered the platform so Nanaki and Moonlight could get on. The King noticed this and charged, swinging his sword.

"-bleep-! He's coming!" Cid shouted as the King started to make his way to the platform.

Nanaki and Moonlight dashed on as the platform began to rise. He was nearer now. He began to swing his sword.

"Flare!" Moonlight roared as a huge fireball erupted around the King.

It paused for a second, and then he shook the spell off. They watched in horror as he began to swing the sword again.

"And up we -bleep- ing go!" Cid pulled a lever.

The Highwind leapt into the air a few hundred feet, out of the sword's path. The platform retracted fully and Nanaki and Moonlight boarded the ship.

"What the hell happened!"

"Apparently, if they have even one knight slightly alive, they can heal the rest of the group. The thirteen Knights of the Round will be back in a few days."

"Let's kill the King then!" Cid began to order the crew to load more missiles.

"That's not possible."

"Why -beep- ing not!"

"Because you can only kill him in mortal combat. If you challenge him, only one will live."

"How do you know this?"

"It was a legend in Cosmo Canyon."

Cid sighed and left a pilot to steer.

"So, where to fuzzy?"

"…I believe we should go to Midgar. I would like to ask Reeve something."

"Why are the knights -bleep- ing here, right?"

"Yes."

The Highwind left the small island, leaving the King to tend to his slain.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Reeve awoke with Cait Sith staring at him.

"What?"

All she did was mew and curl up.

"Hungry, huh?"

He got up and looked for some cat food. He found some and opened it. Setting it in Cait Sith's food dish, he let her eat as he stretched and went to take a shower. As he was dressing, there came hurried footsteps.

"Mr. President!" Dorsin shouted, loud voice different from his normal. "Come quickly!"

Reeve holstered his pistol and ran after Dorsin. In the emergency room, they found all three Turks in critical condition. Half of Reno's face was bandaged up and an x-ray on a nearby wall showed six broken ribs. Rude was suffering from two broken legs, a dislocated spine and numerous fractions in his skull. Elena seemed to have fared the worst as she was currently in a coma.

"I appeared that they were thrown from the top of the Shinra tower."

"I'm amazed they're still alive."

"We've already cast cure spells." Dorsin explained.

"Why not Full-Cure?"

"We don't have any, sir."

"Hmph. Cait Sith, do you have any?"

"Nope! I thought Turks used X-potions." A burst of happy music.

"True. Do we have any of those?"

"No, and the ones they were carrying were smashed in the fall." Dorsin said, looking grave.

"I see. Keep good watch on them. Make sure they get proper treatment."

"Yes, sir."

Reeve sat down at his desk. There was something up there at the top of that tower. Now the question was how to get at it. He sighed. He couldn't help thinking that it was somehow his fault that they were injured. True, he had told them to check it out, but he had not expected this.

"What is up there?" He took out a small robot.

It appeared to be a small bird. Upon closer inspection revealed that it was comprised of camera, microphone, and wireless transmitter. Reeve let it fly around the room for a while, testing its controls. Then he opened the window and allowed it to fly away. He sighed. That had been his first successful AI robot. Cait Sith was pretty complicated and had taken years of his spare time to make. The bird fluttered up to the tower. He watched through the bird's eye as it was snatched out of the air by a flying serpentine thing and then static consumed the screen.

"Well, this is most certainly not good…"

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Darkness. Everything was composed of it. Vincent gazed at his surroundings. Rukazi stood in front of him. Glaring.

"Where the hell am I!"

"Patience." A man walked through one of the walls.

"Dreamweaver." Vincent growled.

"Yes, Vinnie."

"Shut up…"

"Why the hell are we here!" Rukazi yelled.

"This is a battle of the minds." Dreamweaver explained.

"What!" Rukazi looked horrified.

"This is a battle of the minds." Dreamweaver announced to the two of them. "You are allowed no special powers. That means Rukazi, you cannot have speed or the ability to control minds. Vincent, no transformations or instant healing. You will fight with bare hands and…"

"Hey! That's not fair! He has a claw!"

"That is part of him and if you interrupt me again, I will kill you without hesitation. This is a fight to the death. Since you are not physical, you are in spiritual form. This means that the loser will surely have his mind and soul destroyed, leaving and empty shell. The battle has no time limit. You may begin… NOW!"

Vincent dashed forward and struck at Rukazi with his real hand. Rukazi, unaccustomed to being so slow, took the blow head on and flew back several feet.

"Damn…"

'Time for Turk training to pay off.'

Rukazi was still desperately trying to win by speed alone. He flailed wildly and missed Vincent. Vincent gracefully dodged and appeared rushed at him. Vincent slashed with his claw and four bloody gashes appeared on his arm. Rukazi cried out in pain.

"I will ask you one question. Why did you kidnap her?"

"She's mine! No one can take her from me! Especially not you, ya damn vampire!" He struck out, this time catching Vincent in the shoulder.

Vincent staggered slightly, unused to such pain. Usually, his demons would cancel out the pain, but now, they weren't around to help.

"You cannot win against me!" Rukazi screamed.

He began to attack Vincent violently. A kick to the side caused Vincent to collapse. Taking advantage of this, Rukazi kicked Vincent repeatedly in the side. Vincent grunted in pain. After a while, Vincent grabbed Rukazi's foot and flung him to the side. Rukazi leapt up and readied himself for the next attack. This was followed by several minutes of violent attacks. None of the Turk's strategies seemed to work. Rukazi noticed this and took advantage of this. He suddenly ran backwards and caused Vincent to chase him throughout this broad stretch of darkness. Vincent was starting to get annoyed at this tactic when Rukazi suddenly spun and leapt at him. Vincent watched, as if in slow motion, as Rukazi flew nearer. He shifted slightly so that the curved tips of his claw would come in contact with Rukazi's stomach. Rukazi let out a howl of pain as he felt the four sharp digits enter his spleen.

"You don't deserve her, monster!" He gasped as he staggered back, blood splattering the dark ground.

"The same should go to you. I've grown tired of this pointless battle. Get out of my sight."

With that, Vincent rushed up and made a chopping motion towards his windpipe. At the same time, his fist smacked against Rukazi's skull. Rukazi gagged slightly and fell to the ground. His head was bent at a strange angle. He was obviously dead.

"Congrats, Vinnie!"

"I told you not to call me that."

"So?"

"Whatever. Now what?"

"I send the living soul of Vinnie back to his body and the broken and dead soul of Rukazi back to his. Hold on…"

There was a slight blurring and he was back to Godo's room. He gasped slightly as the pain took its toll.

"Vinnie! What happened!" Yuffie was still crying as she clutched him tightly.

"Dreamweaver took care of everything."

"That freaky bird brain!" She sniffed, attempting to regain her happy composure.

"Yes." Vincent smiled slightly as Dreamweaver made loud and obscene comments. "Rukazi's mind and soul are shattered. He will not bother you anymore."

'_Tell her that the spell over the whole town is gone, too.'_

"Dreamweaver says that the spell controlling your father and the whole town has been lifted."

As if in response, Godo groaned and fell to his knees.

"That bastard. Yuffie! Are you alright? Rukazi! Get out!"

"He can't hear you, sir. He's dead."

"What?" Godo looked surprised. "How? He's still breathing."

"His mind and soul are dead."

"I see…" Godo looked confused.

"Well, we should get rid of him." Vincent grabbed Rukazi.

He took him to the caves of Da Chao and burned him. Later, he came back down to Yuffie's house. She was there and smiled as he came in.

"Great. Now I owe you for saving my life twice." She sniffed slightly.

"What happened?"

"When we came in, Godo started yelling at him and asking him why he had kidnapped me. Then Rukazi muttered something and Godo went and stood in a corner and completely ignored me. I tried to run but he cast the same spell on me. Then we heard you outside and he made me go talk to you. I…I couldn't stop myself… and he made me say those things to you…" she started to cry again. "I'm sorry, Vinnie. I didn't mean anything I said…"

Vincent put his arms comfortingly around her shoulders. He held her close.

"It's alright. I know you didn't."

"Thanks…"

As she said that, she tilted her head slightly and kissed him. Vincent was a bit shocked as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders.. She pulled away. Crimson blossoming in her cheeks.

"Sorry about that…"

Vincent sat quietly for a while. Then he smiled slightly.

"You should rest. You've had a rough day."

"'Night, Vinnie." She rushed off to her room, face still extremely red.

The village was starting to gain life as the people under the spell of Rukazi awoke. Vincent sighed and sat down in a corner.

'_You liked that didn't you, Vinnie.'_

'**Shut up, Dreamweaver.'**

'_Hey! How come you got to kill the brat!'_ Chaos sounded pissed off.

'_If you had taken over, the speed demon would have killed you! You should be thanking me!'_

'_Shut up, you old feather bag! I could've taken him.'_

'_Watch your mouth! Respect your elders!'_

'_You ain't my elder!'_

Vincent sighed as he listened to the two demons argue. Then, another voice sounded.

"Vincent?"

He looked up. Godo was standing there.

"Yes?"

"I want to thank you for taking care of Yuffie. If you'd be so kind as to continue, it would be most appreciated."

"Sure."

"Good night."

"…"

Godo walked out of the house. Inside, Vincent slept. Mind and body tired from the day's events.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Cloud awoke to the sound of thunder and the smell of oncoming rain. He gently shook Tifa awake.

"You okay to walk?"

"Sure…" she said in half slumber.

"We should get some shelter. It's gonna rain."

They searched for a while and found a tree with its trunk hollowed out. They huddled inside, trying to keep body heat as the rain came down in torrents.

"I love you, Cloud…" she murmured as she fell asleep again.

Cloud stared at the downpour, feeling as if a great weight had been lifted from his mind and heart.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

The Turks slowly regained consciousness as their bodies healed from the numerous wounds they had sustained.

"Gods, I feel like crap," was the first thing Reno said as he struggled up.

"Please, Reeve would like you to stay put."

"Whatever…" Reno slumped back.

Elsewhere, Cid, Shera, Nanaki, and Moonlight had arrived. Nanaki was speaking to Reeve as Moonlight lay next to the fire.

"So, what do you think is wrong?"

"Well, it would appear that the Planet needs its materia back. After all, it's already low on blood. Seeing as materia is crystallized Mako, it's the choice product." Reeve explained.

"So what's that light over there?"

"I don't know." Reeve scratched his head. "The Turks were nearly killed by whatever it was."

"Let's go check it out." Nanaki walked out.

"Fine." Moonlight followed.

"Wait! You can't go! Didn't you hear what it did to the Turks?" Reeve said frantically.

"Don't worry we'll be fine. Shera, make him a cup of -bleep- ing tea or something." Cid followed Nanaki and Moonlight out of the office.

They walked up to the tower. It was where one of the old reactors had been. Now it was a giant communications tower. It totaled to about two hundred feet into the air and was strong enough to support the entire weight and not collapse.

"Things seem normal from here…" Nanaki commented.

They began to climb. There was a loud roar as they reached the top.

"What the -bleep- was that!"

"Watch out, Cid!" Moonlight cried as a claw swung at them.

"-bleep-!" Cid cursed as he leapt out of the way.

Looming above them was none other than Bahamut ZERO. Near him was…

"Nanaki! Look!"

A machine stood there. They could see strange markings there and a map of the Planet.

"That must be it!" Nanaki growled.

The only problem was, Bahamut ZERO wasn't going to let them go past without a fight. It roared in fury and breathe a blast of iridescent. Everyone dodged out of the way as the blast incinerated a side of the tower.

"I wonder…" Nanaki started. "Bahamut ZERO!"

The orb flashed once. Nothing happened.

"So it is the materia!" Nanaki growled. "Look for a somewhere that a materia could fit and it's blinking!" He roared to the others. "It should be like the one we found in the cave on the Knights of the Round island!"

"You mean that!" Cid shouted as he dodged another blast by Bahamut ZERO.

There, next to the machine, a small light blinked.

"Good! Find some way to distract the beast!"

"That's easier said than done!" Moonlight growled.

"Highwind!" Cid shouted.

Hundred upon thousands of missiles rained down from the Highwind. As the summon was distracted by the missiles, Nanaki rushed over, flicked the materia out with one claw and shoved it into the small hole. There was a loud roar from the beast as the hole seemed to swallow the materia and Bahamut ZERO was gone.

"Now for the -bleep- ing machine!" Cid stabbed the climate machine with his Venus Gospel.

The effect was instantaneous. Cid gave a yell as he was electrocuted and thrown back. Not two seconds later, the machine exploded, causing the lance to hurl back and slam with a sickening crunch through his left arm. He gave a cry and a curse of pain and pulled out the lance. His left arm hung limp and useless at his side.

"Let's get the -bleep- out of here!" Cid dashed off.

The three of them rushed down the tower as the top was engulfed in flames. Several more explosions followed as they reached the bottom and headed for shelter. The tower, suffering from many holes in the tower, collapsed from the fire. Fortunately, it crashed outwards, landing outside of Midgar.

"That takes care of that." Nanaki said and they walked back to Reeve's office.

Later, they returned and Cid went off to get his arm looked at and healed.

"Good job, you guys." Reeve said.

"We should get to replacing the materia as soon as possible." Nanaki said.

"Yes, I agree on that. I will talk to Joseph when I can."

"Who?"

"One of the Cetra."

"Sure."

Nanaki and Moonlight were shown a room they could stay in.

"What's happening to the Planet?" Moonlight asked after some time.

"I don't know. Whatever it is, it's worse than before."

"What if we die?"

Nanaki stayed silent for a while.

"Then we die fighting."

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Tifa, wake up."

"Mm..dnwannagedub…"

"Tifa, the rains have stopped. I think they destroyed the machine."

Her eyes flickered open. She sat up, then, realizing that there wasn't any pain, looked down. The wound had healed over, leaving a small scar.

"Yay…" she said.

"Cid should be coming soon. We can't stay here too long. The trees are dying now that the temperature is reverting back to normal."

They sat there in silence.

"Cloud?"

"Hmm?"

"Who…" she paused, then, blurted out. "Who do you like more, me or Aeris?"

She blushed as he stared at her for a while. Then…

"I'm not sure."

"Oh…" she said sadly.

"I love Aeris, but the ban… there's no way around that. You, on the other hand, have been my friend for as long as I can remember. You even helped me sort out my memories."

"It…it was nothing."

"No, you helped me get my life straight when I was lost in lifestream. I thank you for that."

"No problem. That's what friends are for."

"You're a wonderful person, Tifa."

She blushed and smiled slightly. They sat there and waited until someone came to help.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Me: Aww… isn't that sweet. So much fluff… Well, hope you liked this chappy!


End file.
